China lost no time warning Yoshihiko Noda what it expected of him, after he was chosen by the ruling Democratic Party of Japan as its leader this week and subsequently was elected prime minister.

The official Xinhua news agency said on Aug. 29 that Japan should respect China's "core interests" by dropping its claim to the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea and recognizing Beijing's "complete sovereignty over the archipelago."

China asserted similar "core interest" sovereignty claims in the South China Sea last year, alarming its Southeast Asian neighbors as well as the United States, Japan and other major trading nations.