BEIJING/TOKYO, July 7 (Reuters) - China and Japan reported conflicting accounts on Tuesday of a ‌confrontation near the disputed Senkaku Islands ‌involving their coast guards and a Japanese fishing vessel.

The ​waters around the islands, which China calls the Diaoyu Islands, are claimed by both Beijing and Tokyo. Both sides have faced off in ‌the waters over ⁠the years, deploying patrol boats and urging the other to leave the ⁠area.

On Tuesday, China's Coast Guard said it had expelled a Japanese fishing vessel that "illegally entered the ​territorial waters" ​of one of ​a cluster of disputed ‌islands in the East China Sea.

However, Japan's Coast Guard said in a statement that it had intercepted and expelled two Chinese Coast Guard vessels by Tuesday morning as they approached ‌a Japanese fishing boat ​with two crew members on ​board.

Japan said ​Chinese vessels asserting Beijing's claims in ‌its territorial waters around the ​Senkaku islands violate ​international law, and that it would continue to respond "calmly and resolutely" under international and ​domestic law.

(Reporting ‌by Joe Cash in Beijing and Mariko ​Katsumura in Tokyo; Editing by Christopher ​Cushing and Michael Perry)