Chinese philanthropist Chen Guangbiao is planning to buy advertising space in Japanese newspapers to assert China's sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands.

Chen's ad on New York Times [people.com.cn]

Last Friday, he took out a half-page advertisement in the New York Times saying, in both Chinese and English, that the islands belong to China.

Chen, CEO of a recycling company and well known for his high-profile charity work, said that a major Japanese newspaper had agreed to publish the ads but wanted tens of millions of yen to do so.

"No matter how much the newspaper charges, I would pay to advertise," he said.

Chen said he was enraged by Japan's violation of China's territorial sovereignty, and was seeking to tell the Japanese and Americans the facts behind the dispute.

The New York Times advertisement, which Chen designed and wrote, said: "How would Americans feel and what would America do, if Japan announced that Hawaii was its territory?"

The ad featured his portrait and signature along with another photo of him on a bicycle. In the ad, he described himself as a "citizen of China and advocate of peace."