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territorial sovereignty

Two Chinese patrol ships have been sent to islands disputed with Japan, which has sealed a deal to purchase the islands, China’ state media says.

The ships had reached waters near the islands – known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China – to “assert the country’s sovereignty”, Xinhua news agency said.

Japan confirmed on Tuesday it had signed a contract to buy three of the islands from their private owner.

Tension has been rumbling between the two countries over the East China Sea.

Japan controls the uninhabited but resource-rich islands, which are also claimed by Taiwan. Some had been in the hands of a private Japanese owner but the government says it has now signed a purchase contract.

Two Chinese patrol ships have been sent to islands disputed with Japan, which has sealed a deal to purchase the islands

Two Chinese patrol ships have been sent to islands disputed with Japan, which has sealed a deal to purchase the islands

“This should cause no problem for Japan’s ties with other countries and regions,” said Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura.

“We have absolutely no desire for any repercussions as far as Japan-China relations are concerned. It is important that we avoid misunderstanding and unforeseen problems.”

Osamu Fujimura told reporters that the government had set aside 2.05 billion yen ($26 million) to pay for the three islands.

Japan said on Monday that it was buying the islands to promote their stable and peaceful management – a move that followed a bid by the outspoken and right-wing Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara to buy them using public donations.

China has called Japan’s move illegal and warned it would affect ties.

State-run media has carried strongly worded statements on the issue.

“The Chinese government will not sit idly by watching its territorial sovereignty being infringed upon,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement issued on Monday and carried by Xinhua.

“Should the Japanese side insist on going its own way, it shall have to bear all serious consequences arising therefrom.”

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao also reiterated China’s stand on Monday.

“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,” he said.

The announcement of the dispatch of the patrol boats came in a brief Xinhua report.

China Marine Surveillance – a maritime law enforcement agency – had “drafted an action plan for safeguarding the sovereignty and would take actions pending the development of the situation”, it said.

A small group of protesters were said to have gathered at the Japanese embassy in Beijing to protest against the purchase.

The islands, which lie south of Okinawa and north of Taiwan, sit in key shipping lanes and are thought to lie close to gas deposits.

 

Japanese politicians have set sail for a group of disputed islands, in the teeth of protests by China which claims them for its own.

A flotilla of some 20 Japanese boats set out for the Senkaku (Chinese: Diaoyu) islands and is expected to anchor off them early on Sunday.

The politicians plan to commemorate Japanese dead in World War II, when Japan occupied eastern China.

But Japan’s government has denied them permission to land on the islands.

China says the event will undermine its “territorial sovereignty” and this is the latest move in an escalating dispute over the islands.

On Friday, Japan deported several Chinese activists who had landed there this week.

Japanese politicians have set sail for a group of disputed islands, in the teeth of protests by China which claims them for its own

Japanese politicians have set sail for a group of disputed islands, in the teeth of protests by China which claims them for its own

The islands, also claimed by Taiwan, are close to strategically important shipping lanes, offer rich fishing grounds and are thought to contain oil deposits.

Emotions have been running high since the commemoration on Wednesday of Japan’s surrender in World War II, when China and South Korea both protested against a visit to a Tokyo war shrine by two Japanese cabinet members.

Just before 21:00, the 150-strong party sailed out of the Japanese port of Ishigaki.

They are expected to arrive off the disputed islands in the East China Sea at dawn on Sunday.

“I want to show the international community that these islands are ours,” Kenichi Kojima, a local politician from Kanagawa, near Tokyo, told AFP news agency before he boarded.

“It is Japan’s future at stake.”

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gan said: “Any unilateral action taken by Japan on the Diaoyu Islands is illegal and invalid.”

Earlier this week, activists sailed to the disputed island chain from Hong Kong in a protest aimed at promoting Chinese sovereignty.

China had praised Japan’s “wise” decision to free them, saying in an article on Xinhua news agency’s website that the speedy action had averted a deterioration in relations.

Rows over the disputed islands have caused Sino-Japanese ties to freeze in the past.

China claims the largely uninhabited islands has been a part of its territory since ancient times but Japan says it took control of the archipelago in the late 1890s after making sure they were uninhabited.

In September 2010, relations plummeted after the arrest of a Chinese trawler captain near the islands.

The captain was accused of ramming two Japanese patrol vessels in the area, but Japan eventually dropped the charges against him.