China lodged another stern representation to Japan on Friday over Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone's remarks that the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between Japan and United States is applicable to the Diaoyu Islands.
According to the reports by the Taiwan-based Broadcasting Corporation of China (BCC), an official of the U.S. State Department, familiar with East Asian affairs, said at a press conference in Washington on Friday that the Diaoyu Islands were always under Japan's administrative jurisdiction and the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between Japan and United States was applicable to them.
Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone echoed the U.S. official's remarks afterwards.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Ma Zhaoxu rejected Nakasone's remarks later in a press release, saying the Japan-U.S. Mutual Cooperation and Security Treaty should not harm the interests of third parties, including China.
"Any words and deeds that bring the Diaoyu Islands into the scope of the Japan-U.S. Mutual Cooperation and Security Treaty are absolutely unacceptable for the Chinese people," he said.
Ma stressed again that the Diaoyu Islands and adjacent islets had been Chinese territories since ancient times and China held "indisputable" sovereignty over the islands.
"We have lodged stern representations to Japan again and required the United States to clarify reports on the issue," he said.
He also urged the two countries to realize the great sensitivity of the Diaoyu Islands issue and proceed with discretion in word and deed, so as to avoid damage to the general interests of China-Japan and China-U.S. relations and regional stability.
(Xinhua News Agency February 28, 2009)