“Absolutely no concession” on Diaoyu Islands
The PLA Daily, the flagship newspaper of China’s armed forces, carried a commentary Wednesday protesting against the Japanese government’s “nationalization” of the Diaoyu Islands, vowing “absolutely no concession” on the issue.
Engaging in the illegal trading of China’s sacred territory is “a dangerous move” by the Japanese government and on the wrong track of endangering the bigger interest of China-Japan relations, said the article, run under the byline of Luo Yuan.
The Japanese government’s attempt by the so-called “nationalization” is doomed to fail and would never be accepted by the Chinese people, the article said.
“The Chinese government and the Chinese people will absolutely make no concession on territorial sovereignty,” it said.
The article urged the Japanese government not to misjudge the situation as today’s China is no longer the China during the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894. Neither is it the China during the war of Japanese aggression against China in 1937.
“Long gone are the days when the Chinese territory could be grabbed only by an unequal treaty,” it said.
Territorial sovereignty is related to national dignity and a country’s core interests. The article warned the Japanese government and its rightwing forces not to underestimate the resolution of the Chinese people.
The Chinese government strongly opposed Japan’s so-called “purchase” of the Diaoyu Islands and would take necessary measures to safeguard national territorial sovereignty, it said.
“Should the Japanese side insist on going its own way, it would have to bear all serious consequences that arise,” the article warned.
The article asked the Japanese government not to pin hopes on its own so-called “advantages in its naval and air forces.”
It is not like the Chinese and Japanese armies that had not engaged in wars before. The Chinese army had used the weapons seized from the Japanese side to defeat the Japanese elite force, the article said.
China’s national defense capabilities had achieved a marked development. Inciting wars will only bring disaster to Japan, the article said.
The article also told the Japanese government not to pin hopes on the Chinese government to make any concession.
The Chinese government has reiterated its hope of safeguarding the larger interest of China-Japan relations together with Japan. However, it could only achieved through efforts made by both sides and on the basis of mutual respect, it said.
The article pointed out that “It’s impossible for the Chinese government to shoulder the responsibility unilaterally, and the Chinese government certainly would not trade its own security and territorial sovereignty for peace.”
The article said the essence of the dispute on the Diaoyu Islands is not simply an issue of territorial claims.
Japan illegally grabbed the Diaoyu Island and the affiliated islets at the end of the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. China took back the territories that were invaded and occupied by Japan in accordance with the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation after the end of the Second World War, and thus the islands returned to China according to the international law.
As a result, the territorial dispute is not only related to the tragedy endured by the Asian countries, including China under the Japanese aggression, but also indicated whether Japan accepts the outcomes of the Second World War when it unconditionally surrendered, the article said.
The dispute also involved safeguarding the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War, it said.
If letting the Japanese rightwing forces expand unchecked while its government “nationalizes” other country’s territory, the Japanese militarism would have a chance of reviving in the future and this could impose serious threat to regional and world peace, the article cautioned.
“The Chinese people had made a significant contribution to that war (the second world war) and they had also paid dearly,” the article said. “We’ll not let the martyrs’ blood to flow in vain.”
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Full text of Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China
BEIJING, Sept. 10: Following is the full text of the Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China issued on Monday.
Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China
10 September 2012
Regardless of repeated strong representations of the Chinese side, the Japanese government announced on 10 September 2012 the “purchase” of the Diaoyu Island and its affiliated Nan Xiaodao and Bei Xiaodao and the implementation of the so-called nationalization” of the islands. This constitutes a gross violation of China’s sovereignty over its own territory and is highly offensive to the 1.3 billion Chinese people. It seriously tramples on historical facts and international jurisprudence. The Chinese government and people express firm opposition to and strong protest against the Japanese move.
The Diaoyu Island and its affiliated islands have been China’s sacred territory since ancient times. This is supported by historical facts and jurisprudential evidence. The Diaoyu Islands were first discovered, named and exploited by the Chinese people. Chinese fishermen had long been engaged in production activities on these islands and in their adjacent waters. The Diaoyu Islands have been put under the jurisdiction of China’s naval defense as affiliated islands of Taiwan, China since the Ming Dynasty. The Diaoyu Islands have never been “terra nullius”. China is the indisputable owner of the Diaoyu Islands.
In 1895, as the Qing government’s defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War was all but certain, Japan illegally occupied the Diaoyu Island and its affiliated islands. After that, Japan forced the Qing government to sign the unequal Treaty of Shimonoseki and cede to Japan “the island of Formosa (Taiwan), together with all islands appertaining or belonging to the said island of Formosa”. After the end of the Second World War, China recovered the territories invaded and occupied by Japan such as Taiwan and the Penghu Islands in accordance with the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation. According to international law, the Diaoyu Island and its affiliated islands have already been returned to China. Facts are facts, and history is not to be reversed. Japan’s position on the issue of the Diaoyu Island is an outright denial of the outcomes of the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War and constitutes a grave challenge to the post-war international order.
In 1951, the Treaty of Peace with Japan (commonly known as the Treaty of San Francisco, a treaty partial in nature) was signed between Japan, the United States and other countries, placing the Ryukyu Islands (known as Okinawa today) under the trusteeship of the United States. In 1953, the United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands arbitrarily expanded its jurisdiction to include the Diaoyu Island and its affiliated islands, which are in fact Chinese territories. In 1971, Japan and the United States signed the Okinawa Reversion Agreement, which arbitrarily included the Diaoyu Islands in the territories and territorial waters to be reversed to Japan. The Chinese government has, from the very beginning, firmly opposed and never acknowledged such backroom deals between Japan and the United States concerning Chinese territories. The claims of the Japanese government that the Diaoyu Island is Japan’s inherent territory and that there is no
outstanding territorial dispute between Japan and China showed total disregard of historical facts and jurisprudential evidence and are absolutely untenable.
During the negotiations on the normalization of China-Japan relations in 1972 and on the signing of the Sino-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship in 1978, the then leaders of the two countries, acting in the larger interest of China-Japan relations, reached important understanding and common ground on “leaving the issue of the Diaoyu Island to be resolved later”. This opened the door to normalization of China-Japan relations and was followed by tremendous progress in China-Japan relations and stability and tranquility in East Asia in the following 40 years. Now, if the Japanese authorities should deny and negate the previous common understanding reached between the two countries, then how could the situation of the Diaoyu Island remain stable? How could China-Japan relations continue to grow smoothly? And how could Japan ever win trust from its neighbors and people of the world?
The Japanese government has repeatedly stirred up troubles in recent years on the issue of the Diaoyu Island. Particularly since the start of the year, the Japanese government has endorsed rightwing forces to clamor for the “purchase” of the Diaoyu Island and some of its affiliated islands in an attempt to pave the way for a government “purchase” of the islands. People have reason to believe that what Japan did regarding the Diaoyu Island was nothing accidental. The political tendency these actions point to may well put people on the alert. We cannot but ask: where is Japan heading to? Can anyone rest assured of Japan’s future course of development?
The Chinese government has always attached importance to developing relations with Japan. China and Japan and the Chinese and Japanese peoples can live together only in friendship, not confrontation. To advance the China-Japan strategic relationship of mutual benefit serves the fundamental interests of the two countries and two peoples and is conducive to peace, stability and development of the region. Yet, to ensure sound and stable development of China-Japan relations, the Japanese side needs to work together and move in the same direction with China. The “purchase” of the Diaoyu Island by the Japanese government runs counter to the goal of upholding the larger interest of China-Japan relations.
The Chinese government solemnly states that the Japanese government’s so-called “purchase” of the Diaoyu Island is totally illegal and invalid. It does not change, not even in the slightest way, the historical fact of Japan’s occupation of Chinese territory, nor will it alter China’s territorial sovereignty over the Diaoyu Island and its affiliated islands. Long gone are the days when the Chinese nation was subject to bullying and humiliation from others. The Chinese government will not sit idly by watching its territorial sovereignty being infringed upon. The Chinese side strongly urges the Japanese side to immediately stop all actions that may undermine China’s territorial sovereignty. Japan should truly come back to the very understanding and common ground reached between the two sides, and should return to the track of negotiated settlement of the dispute. Should the Japanese side insist on going its own way, it shall have to bear all serious
consequences arising therefrom.
