China's top legislature condemns Japan island purchase

BEIJING - The Foreign Affairs Committee of China's National People's Congress (NPC), China's top legislative body, issued a statement here on Tuesday, voicing its strong indignation toward and condemnation of Japan's "purchase" of the Diaoyu Islands and its affiliated islets.

"This act is another severe infringement upon China's territorial sovereignty, which seriously hurts the feelings of the Chinese people and seriously damages the China-Japan relationship," said the statement.

"The NPC Foreign Affairs Committee has expressed its strong indignation and condemned such an act," the statement noted.

The Diaoyu Islands and the affiliated islands have been an inalienable part of China's territory since ancient times, and they were first discovered, named and utilized by the Chinese people, the statement said,  adding for that China has indisputable historical facts and jurisprudential evidence.

"The unilateral actions taken by the Japanese government are totally illegal and invalid according to international law and will never alter, not even in the slightest way, China's territorial sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands and the affiliated islets," the statement pointed out.

Japan illegally grabbed the Diaoyu Islands and the affiliated islets at the end of the 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 Diaoyu Island and the affiliated islets returned to China according to the international law, said the statement.

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 statement stressed.

"The Japanese government's claims that the Diaoyu Islands are Japan's inherent territory not only disregard historical facts, but also outright deny the outcomes of the victory of the war against fascism and constitute a grave challenge to post-war international order," said the statement.

"The Chinese people would never consent to such claims," the statement stressed.

In the statement, China's top legislature urged Japan to clearly understand the dangers of the current situation, make no repeated mistakes and return to the proper track of settling the dispute.

"Long gone are the days when the Chinese nation was subject to bullying and humiliation from others," said the statement, adding the Chinese government will of course take necessary measures to safeguard national territorial sovereignty, and maintain historical facts and justice.

"The Chinese people will never accept Japan's illegal encroachment on  the Diaoyu Islands and its affiliated islets, and any attempt made by Japan to strengthen its control over the islands is doomed to failure," said the statement.

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