The government will not accept complaints lodged by China over the 10 Japanese nationalists who landed on the Senkaku Islands, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said Monday, while also trying to defuse bilateral strains by criticizing the unauthorized trip.
Anti-Japan sentiment has once again heated up in China over last week's arrest and deportation of a group of Chinese activists from Hong Kong who landed on the Senkaku islet of Uotsuri. And Sunday's tit-for-tat visit to the same islet is likely to trigger more outrage, something both governments are hoping to avoid.
"That the Senkaku Islands are a part of Japanese territory is not in doubt . . . and China's demands based on its position over the islands are absolutely unacceptable. But neither side wants the Senkaku Islands issue to affect bilateral ties on a comprehensive level," Fujimura told reporters Monday morning.