Japan plans to buy disputed islands

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government is planning to purchase a disputed group of islands, Kyodo News has reported. The Senkaku Islands, which are known as the Diaoyu Islands in China, are the subject of a continuing row between Japan, China and Taiwan. But Tokyo’s Governor, Shintaro Ishihara, told a recent news conference that the city authorities are planning to buy all of the islets, which he claims belong to a Japanese family. No purchase price was revealed, but Ishihara added that he hoped the deal would be concluded this year. Unsurprisingly the declaration was not well received in Beijing. A spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry told state media that the move would be “illegal and invalid”. “[The purchase] will not change the fact that these islands belong to China,” the ministry said.

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