[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

“Purchased by Japan, the islands’ ownership is hotly contested by China,”

Purchased from what country?

[rbmillerjr]

Wiki: "The Japanese central government formally annexed the islands on 14 January 1895, naming them Senkaku, or “Pinnacled Pavilions.”[22] Around 1900, Japanese entrepreneur Koga Tatsushirō (古賀 辰四郎?) constructed a bonito processing plant on the islands with 200 workers. The business failed in 1940 and the islands have remained deserted ever since.[21] In the 1970s, Koga Tatsushirō's son Zenji Koga and Zenji's wife Hanako sold four islets to the Kurihara family of Saitama Prefecture. Kunioki Kurihara[23] owned Uotsuri, Kita-Kojima, and Minami-Kojima. Kunioki's sister owns Kuba.[24] The islands came under US government occupation in 1945 after the surrender of Japan ended World War II.[21] In 1969, the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East (ECAFE) identified potential oil and gas reserves in the vicinity of the Senkaku Islands.[25] In 1971, the Okinawa Reversion Treaty passed the U.S. Senate, returning the islands to Japanese control in 1972.[26] Also in 1972, the Taiwanese and Chinese governments officially began to declare ownership of the islands.[27] Since the islands reverted to Japanese government control in 1972, the mayor of Ishigaki has been given civic authority over the territory. The Japanese central government, however, has prohibited Ishigaki from surveying or developing the islands.[21][28] In 1979 an official delegation from the Japanese government composed of 50 academics, government officials from the Foreign and Transport ministries, officials from the now-defunct Okinawa Development Agency, and Hiroyuki Kurihara, visited the islands and camped on Uotsuri for about four weeks. The delegation surveyed the local ecosystem, finding moles and sheep, studied the local marine life, and examined whether the islands would support human habitation.[24]

[varyouga]

Taiwan. It's not an irrational action from China's point of view.

They see Taiwan as a breakaway rogue state selling Chinese land to a long-time rival, Japan.

This could get ugly...

[Truth29]

"Purchased from what country?"

From a link in the article: The dispute between Asia’s two largest economies reignited after the Japanese government bought three of the islands from a private owner in September. The move set off riots in China, damaging the $340 billion bilateral trade relationship.