This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/sep/11/china-warns-japan-disputed-islands

The article has changed 9 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 1 Version 2
China warns of consequences as Japan announces purchase of disputed islands China warns of consequences as Japan announces purchase of disputed islands
(7 days later)
Japan has formally announced it will purchase a number of disputed islands also claimed by China, in a move Beijing said would bring "serious consequences". A territorial dispute between China and Japan over a group of islands in the East China Sea intensified on Tuesdayafter Beijing sent out two patrol ships in a show of anger at Tokyo buying the largely barren outcrops from their private owners.
The chief cabinet secretary, Osamu Fujimura, told reporters Japan would buy the three uninhabited islands in the East China Sea from a private Japanese family it recognises as the owner, and has budgeted 2.05bn yen (£16m) for the purchase. The China Marine Surveillance has drawn up a plan to safeguard China's sovereignty of the islands and the ships were sent to assert those claims, said China's official news agency, Xinhua. The marine agency is a paramilitary force, and its ships are often lightly armed.
China and Taiwan also claim the islands, which are part of what Japan calls the Senkakus and China the Diaoyu group. The rocky islands, known as Senkaku to the Japanese and Diaoyu to the Chinese, are also are claimed by Taiwan.
Fujimura said the decision to nationalise the islands was "to maintain the Senkakus peacefully and stably". Japan's central government announced a deal this week with the Japanese family it recognises as the owner. The chief cabinet secretary, Osamu Fujimura, told reporters the government had budgeted 2.05bn yen (£1.6m) for the purchase "to maintain the Senkakus peacefully and stably".
The deal was signed with the family on Tuesday morning, public broadcaster NHK said. Public broadcaster NHK said the government and the family signed a deal on Tuesday.
The dispute, which has long been a flashpoint in Japan-China relations, has been heating up in recent months. A spokesman for the Chinese defense ministry, Geng Yansheng, said in a statement: "The determination and the will of the Chinese government and military to safeguard their territorial integrity are firm. We are closely monitoring the situation and reserve the right to take necessary measures."
Fujimura repeated that the islands were part of Japan's territory, and should cause no friction with other countries or regions. "We certainly do not wish the issue to affect our diplomatic relations with China and it is important to avoid any misunderstanding or an unexpected event," he said. Japan has claimed the islands since 1895. The US took jurisdiction after the second world war and turned them over to Japan in 1972. But Beijing sees the purchase as an affront to its claims and its past calls for negotiations.
Tuesday's formal cabinet approval came the day after Fujimura announced the decision, prompting a swift response from China's foreign ministry, which said Beijing would not "sit back and watch its territorial sovereignty violated". Japan's coast guard said it had not taken any special measures in response to the Chinese patrol boats.
"China strongly urges Japan to immediately stop all action to undermine China's territorial sovereignty and return to a negotiated settlement to the dispute. If Japan insists on going its own way, it will bear all the serious consequences that follow," the ministry said in a statement. Reporting in China's state media has been heated. Reactions to Japanese actions are sometimes overstated in China, and a commentator in the People's Liberation Army Daily, the main newspaper of China's military, called Japan's move "the most blatant challenge to China's sovereignty since the end of World War II." China has also started broadcasting a daily marine weather report for the islands.
State-run China Central Television reported that the foreign minister, Yang Jiechi, summoned the Japanese ambassador to complain about the purchase. About a dozen protesters gathered outside the Japanese embassy in Beijing chanting: "Japan, get out of China."
All major state newspapers in China ran the ministry statement on their front pages on Tuesday, along with comments from Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao. A car drove toward the embassy's gate but did not make a serious attempt to ram it and was stopped by police.
"The Diaoyu Islands are an inalienable part of China's territory, and the Chinese government and its people will absolutely make no concession on issues concerning its sovereignty and territorial integrity," Wen said at the inauguration ceremony for a statue of the late Chinese leaders Zhou Enlai and Chen Yi at the China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing. Xinhua reported that people had also taken to the streets to protest in two cities in the south and east. Several waved placards and the Chinese flag and shouted "Defend the Diaoyu Islands" outside the Japanese consulate general in southern Guangzhou, Xinhua said. About 200 people marched in Weihai in Shandong province, singing the national anthem, it said.
Japanese supporters think having the government own the islands will strengthen Japan's claim over them, and send a tougher message to China. Taiwan's foreign ministry also lodged a strong protest to Japan. It called the purchase of the islands an "extremely unfriendly move" that "not only harms the longtime cooperation between Taiwan and Japan but will also aggravate regional tensions in East Asia."
Experts in Japan said the government's move was also meant to block a plan by Tokyo's nationalistic governor to buy the islands and develop them – a move that would have inflamed ties with China even more. The islands would not be developed under the deal approved on Tuesday.
Earlier this month, the city of Tokyo sent a team of experts to waters around the islands to survey fishing grounds and possible sites for development, in a move that was strongly criticised by China. Activists from Japan and Hong Kong briefly set foot on the islands last month, and there have been protests in various Chinese cities in recent weeks.
The dispute over the islands boiled over into a major diplomatic row between the two neighbours after an incident on 7 September 2010 in which a Chinese fishing boat collided with Japanese coastguard ships near the islands. The fishing boat captain was arrested and later released.