The Japanese government decided to buy Senkaku Islands, a group of islands in the East China Sea that are claimed by China, announced on Monday in Tokyo a government spokesman.
“During a ministerial meeting, we agreed to become owners of three of the Senkaku Islands as soon as possible,” said government spokesman Osamu Fujimura, using the Japanese name of this small archipelago called Diaoyu in Chinese.
Osamu Fujimura said Friday that the government reached an agreement with the owners, a Japanese family, but refused to disclose the purchase price. According to the press, the transaction value would be around 2.05 billion yen ($26.2 million). The decision to purchase these islands aimed at ensuring their preservation in peace and stability, the spokesman added.
This group of uninhabited islands, located 2,000 kilometers southwest of Tokyo and 200 kilometers north-east from the coast of Taiwan, which also claimed them is at the heart of the dispute that contribute to the deterioration of relations between the two countries. Beijing government warned Japan on Saturday that China will not go back over its claims. However, both governments agree that the islands were part of Taiwan.
In august, pro-Beijing militants landed on one of the disputed islands. They were quickly arrested by Japanese authorities and expelled. After a few days, a group of Japanese people have raised the Japanese flag on the same island, to reaffirm its membership to Japan. This triggered anti-Japanese demonstrations attended by thousands of people in over 20 cities in China. Japanese shops, restaurants and vehicles became their target in some cities.
Then Tokyo sent its deputy foreign minister, Tsuyoshi Yamaguchi, with a letter from the Japanese Prime Minister for the Chinese authorities.
In late august, the car of the Japanese ambassador to Beijing was the target of an unidentified person who pulled the Japanese flag from the vehicle of the Japanese diplomat.
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