China summons Japanese ambassador over disputed islands

Yahoo News ^ | 1-5-03 | Yahoo INC

[scootshome]

Vice minister of foreign affairs Wang Yi summoned Japanese ambassador to China, Koreshige Anami, and made a "formal representation" over Japan's reported leasing of three disputed isles in the East China Sea, state press said early Sunday.

Xinhua news agency said Wang Saturday noted that the Diaoyu Islands -- also known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China -- and adjacent islets had been a part of China since ancient times.

"Any unilateral action on the islands by the Japanese side is illegal and invalid, which China will not accept," Wang said. "The Chinese government and people have the unswerving determination to safeguard the country's territorial sovereignty."

Earlier the China Daily said the ministry had summoned an unnamed official from the Japanese embassy Friday to express "strong dissatisfaction" over the issue.

The ministry outlined China's "solemn and just stance" regarding the Japanese government's move to lease from "a private owner" three uninhabited islands, the daily said.

Japan's move is seen as an attempt to strengthen its control over the island chain claimed by Japan, China as well as Taiwan.

The Japanese Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper said Wednesday that the government in October signed a contract to lease the islands for a year from the owner, an unidentified man living outside Okinawa Prefecture.

Japan declared the islands its own territory in 1895 and they were temporarily put under US control after World War II. But they were returned to Japanese rule in 1972 together with Okinawa.

The dispute came to the fore in the early 1970s, when China and Taiwan made their claims to the islands after oil deposits were confirmed in the area by a United Nations agency

[scootshome]

Do the Chinese think it is time, "while we are thinned out".

[Brad’s Gramma]

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[RightWhale]

This dispute seems to be about oil.

[Rebelbase]

All you ever wanted to know about the Diaoyu Islands Dispute but were afraid to ask.

[Imperialist]

Maybe the chicomms are thinking that. I like to think that a plan for china has been around for a while and we have the resources reservered for just them, regardless of two other fronts. But we did under estimate bin laden(scum). north korea is china's puppet.

[Right Wing Professor]

You don't think Mr. Cheng-China Huang might have a somewhat prejudiced view of the matter?

[Orion78]

PING

[Tailgunner Joe]

bttt

[Argus]

This dispute seems to be about oil.

Holding my breath waiting for the protestors in Peking with the "No Blood For Oil" t-shirts.

[GOP_1900AD]

Emboldened as they no doubt were by the limp wristed US response to the EP3 attack, and the West's failure to seriously challenge the PRC's illegal occupations of Tibet, NE Kashmir, Woody Island, parts of the Spratley Islands and other small islands and islets in the S. China Sea, naturally, they will continue to push these sorts of things to the limit. When will we (the West and our allies) get a clue that our 50 years of appeasement have been the wrong approach and will never accomplish anything good.

[John H K]

Do the Chinese think it is time, "while we are thinned out".

Doesn't matter; if the Chinese Air Force and Navy slugged it out over these islands with the Japanese, unless the Chinese used nukes, the Japanese would win.

[Sparta]

I wouldn't be so sure. The ChiComs outnumber the JSDF and numbers still count for something.

[sheik yerbouty]

The thought has entered their minds. A rearmed Japan might make that thought go away.

[swarthyguy]

If we challenge the Chinese, where are we gonna buy our underwear from.

They literally have us by the short hairs.

[RightWhale]

If we challenge the Chinese

They will have men in orbit by October, but their astronauts will be productive--not having to stop work five times an hour.