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China Berates Japanese Premier Over Disputed Islands

234 days ago

(RTTNews) - Outraged by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's remarks about the disputed East China Sea islands at the U.N. General Assembly, China on Thursday urged Japan to stop immediately all actions that infringed its territorial integrity and sovereignty.

"China is strongly disappointed and sternly opposes the Japanese leader's obstinacy regarding his wrong position on the Diaoyu Islands issue," Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a written statement carried by the state media.

His remarks came following Noda's insistence when responding to reporter's questions at the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday that the Diaoyu Islands "are an integral part" of Japan's territory in light of history and of international law. The islands are known as Senkaku Islands in Japan, which nationalized them early this month.

"China has sufficient historical evidence and legal basis to prove the Diaoyu Islands have been an inseparable part of Chinese territory since ancient times," Qin said.

After World War II, China took back all the territories that were invaded and occupied by Japan including Taiwan according to the international legal documents such as the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, Qin said, explaining that such a move indicates the Diaoyu Islands and its affiliated islands were returned to China's sovereignty in terms of international law.

"The Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation are among the most important anti-Fascist achievements and a significant basis for the post-war international order, and were publicly accepted by Japan in the Japanese Instrument of Surrender," the Xinhua news agency quoted Qin as saying.

According to Qin, the Chinese government has voiced its stern opposition ever since the United States and Japan made "backroom deals" concerning the Diaoyu Islands, and never acknowledged such deals.

"The Chinese people made a huge sacrifice and remarkable contribution to the victory in the World Anti-Fascist War; however, a defeated country wants to illegally occupy the territory of a victorious nation," Qin pointed out.

"Japan's position and acts regarding the Diaoyu Islands issue gravely trample on the principles of the U.N. Charter. Their essence shows an inability to engage in introspection and thoroughly repent and condemn Japanese militarism's history of invasion. They are a gross attempt to deny the outcomes of the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War and a dangerous challenge to the post-war international order. These actions call for a high degree of vigilance from the international community," Qin warned.

He reiterated that Japan's "purchase" of the Diaoyu Islands is totally illegal and invalid and will never change the historical facts of Japan's illegal occupation of Chinese territory, and therefore China's sovereignty over the islands.

Qin said "the will and resolve of the Chinese government and its people to safeguard its national territorial sovereignty is unshakable" and Japan would never succeed in its illegal scheme.

"In consideration of both history and international law, the Japanese side should immediately cease all actions that infringe China's territorial sovereignty, instead of making one mistake after the other and deceiving the world," Qin demanded.

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