Japan never agreed to the late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping's 1978 proposal that called for shelving the territorial issue over the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara said Thursday.
The remark is apparently aimed at reiterating Tokyo's position that the Senkaku Islands are an integral part of Japan and thus there is no territorial dispute with China, so no issue exists to be shelved between the countries.
Speaking at the day's session of the House of Representatives Security Committee, Maehara said Deng put forth the proposal "one-sidedly" and Japan never agreed to it, adding Tokyo will never accept such a proposal even if Beijing presents it again.