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Beijing seizes japan textbooks for lies
(Agencies)
Updated: 2005-06-29 11:22

Textbooks headed for a Japanese school in China were seized by customs officials who objected to the way maps in the books depicted the Chinese mainland and Taiwan, an official said Tuesday.


A member of Taiwan's Labor Party demonstrates outside the Interchange Association, in Taipei, protesting an amendment in Japanese history textbooks. [AP]

The maps showed the mainland and the island in different colors, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao, indicating that Beijing was concerned this might make Taiwan seem like a separate country.

"The Japanese textbooks showed China and Taiwan in different colors," Liu said at a regular news briefing. "The 'one-China principle' is paramount, so it is legitimate for China's customs to handle this according to the law."

The 180 books had been bound for a Japanese school in the northeastern city of Dalian.

Chinese officials also objected to the books because they identified a set of islands in the East China Sea as part of Japanese territory.

Beijing and Tokyo have a long-running feud over the islands — called Diaoyu by China and Senkaku by Japan — which are believed to lie near oil and gas resources.

Japan's Kyodo News agency reported that the customs office in Dalian demanded the school pay a $120 fine and present an explanation to Chinese authorities.

It wasn't known if the fine was paid.

Japan-China relations have been strained by a separate dispute over Japanese textbooks that critics say minimize Tokyo's wartime aggression.

In April, protests erupted across China over that dispute and Tokyo's campaign for a permanent U.N. Security Council seat.



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