Facts speak louder than words, and lies collapse by themselves.

Japanese legislators discussed Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara's plan to purchase three islets of the Diaoyu Islands on Tuesday, but they are just painting a room as the Diaoyu Islands incontrovertibly belong to China.

Japan says that the eight islands were incorporated into Japanese territory during the Meiji era (1868-1912) and the Japanese government sold most of the islets to an individual 80 years ago.

But after looking at more than 40 Meiji period documents in Japan's government archives, Han-yi Shaw, a fellow at the Research Center for International Legal Studies at Taipei's National Chengchi University, found that the Meiji government acknowledged the Diaoyu Islands were Chinese territory.

Shintaro Ishihara and others who claim the Diaoyu Islands do not belong to China should look at these documents as China's ownership of the islands is indisputably there in black and white.

Japan arrogated the islands along with Taiwan and the Penghu Islands and incorporated them into Okinawa Prefecture as Japanese territory after its victory against the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) in the 1894-95 war between the two countries.

But the islands automatically reverted to China from the time Japan unconditionally surrendered and accepted the Potsdam Proclamation at the end of World War II.

The Potsdam Proclamation issued in 1945 by the allies stipulated that Japan must carry out the clauses of the Cairo Declaration of 1943, which stipulated that Japan should return to China all the territory it had seized from it during and after the 1894-95 war.

No wonder that Japanese historian Kiyoshi Inoue has remin-ded his compatriots that the name by which they know the islands is a legacy of the country's military aggression. He has called for the Japanese name for the islands Senkaku to be abandoned as it was adopted by Japan's militarists only after the islands were seized from China by force. He says they should be known as Tiaoyu Islands, which was their historical name.

Shintaro's plan to purchase China's Diaoyu Islands is ridiculous, but it is also inflammatory and will harm relations between the two countries. By requesting money from the public for his plan, Shintaro is planting a seed of hatred among his countrymen for China.

The Japanese government should understand that by not nipping Shintaro's foolishness in the bud it is allowing him to damage China-Japan ties.