China threatens Japan after vote to change status of disputed islands
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China said on Monday (June 22) it reserves the right to respond to a Japanese city’s decision to rename the administrative area that includes remote islands claimed by both China and Japan and have long been a source of friction between the neighbours.
The row over the uninhabited East China Sea islets may add to recent tension caused by Japan’s criticisms of Beijing’s plan to impose a new national security law in Hong Kong. China has said Japan should not interfere in Beijing’s internal affairs.
The Ishigaki City Council in Japan’s Okinawa prefecture approved the legislation that changes the administrative status of the uninhabited island group, known as the Senkakus in Japan and the Diaoyus in China. This will apply from 1st October.
The bill was “a serious provocation to China’s territorial sovereignty, is illegal, invalid, and cannot change the fact that the Diaoyu Islands belong to China”, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian told reporters at a daily briefing.
China has lodged a complaint with Japan and reserved the right to take further action, Zhao said.
NHK said the name had been changed to avoid administrative mistakes as another location in Ishigaki City was also called Tonoshiro.
It came at a time that Chinese coastguard vessels had been repeatedly intruding into Japanese waters near the islands, NHK said.
Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said last week Japan would take all measures to ensure surveillance of the areas around the disputed islands.
Taiwan’s government, which also claims the islets, also said its foreign ministry had “strongly protested” to Japan about the name change.
