China’s stance on disputed islands wrong: Japan PM

The Japanese premier said at a press conference on Friday that the “problem is that harm is being caused to Japanese companies and Japanese nationals in China, who are contributing to the Chinese economy and society, to achieve political objectives.”
 
“I want to say it is wrong for a responsible nation state in the international community.”
 
“It not only harms bilateral relations, it has a significantly negative influence on China’s economy and its society,” Abe added.
 
    Japan and China have long been in a dispute over the sovereignty of a group of islands in the East China Sea, which would give the owner exclusive oil, mineral and fishing rights in the surrounding waters.
 
 
The disputed islands are known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.
 
“Regarding Senkaku, there is no change to my position to resolutely protect this water and territory. There is no room for negotiation on this,” Abe stated.
 
Tensions heightened between the two countries after Japan signed a deal on September 11, 2012 to buy three of the islands from their private Japanese owner in line with plans to nationalize the archipelago.
 
On September 13, Chinese Deputy Minister of Commerce Jiang Zengwei said in response to Tokyo’s move that Beijing saw no problem in peaceful boycotts of Japanese products.
 
“I still haven’t seen any actions by Chinese consumers in response to the Japanese violation of Chinese territorial sovereignty, but if we do see them expressing their stance and views in a reasonable way, I think that would be their right,” Jiang said.
 
China presented the United Nations with a detailed explanation of its sovereignty on the disputed islands based on certain geological features in December 2012.
 
China is Japan’s largest trading partner. In 2011, bilateral ties between Tokyo and Beijing reached about 345 billion dollars in value.