Feb. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Japan's government will take control of a lighthouse built by a group of activists in 1978 on Uotsurishima, the largest of the Senkaku Islands in the country's southernmost prefecture of Okinawa, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said.

The owner of the lighthouse decided to renounce his title to the structure, the newspaper reported in its English language news service, citing an unidentified government official. The government's Cabinet Office will probably become the new owner this week, Nikkei English News said.

China and Taiwan began claiming sovereignty over the island in 1971 after the Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East, an agency of the United Nations, released a report on possible oil reserves in the area, Nikkei said.

Seven Chinese activists landed on the island last March and destroyed part of the lighthouse. Okinawa police arrested them and deported them, the report said.

(Nikkei English News.)

To contact the reporter for this story: Tak Kumakura in Tokyo at tkumakura@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: February 9, 2005 01:18 EST