Scholars urge Japan to recognize 'fundamental changes' in Diaoyu Islands situation

From Sept 10 to 11, the Japanese government recklessly "nationalized" China's Diaoyu Islands, stirring up strong opposition and anger among the Chinese government and people.

The provocative "purchase" of China's territory was a complete deviation from the important consensus reached by leaders in regards to the islands in 1972, which led to the fundamental changes in the situation.

On Sept 10, shortly after the Japanese government announced the "purchase," the Chinese government promptly issued a statement on the baselines of the territorial waters of the Diaoyu Islands.

On Sept 13 EST, China's permanent representative to the United Nations filed a copy of the Chinese government's Diaoyu Islands baseline announcement to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The baseline announcement includes lists of the geographical coordinates of the base points and baselines of the territorial waters of the Diaoyu Islands as well as charts.

On Sept 15, China's SOA released a string of geographic coordinates of Diaoyu Island and 70 of its affiliated islets, as well as their location maps, three-dimension effects graphs and sketch maps for the Diaoyu Islands.

Shortly after the Japanese government's announcement, the SOA put the waters off the Diaoyu Islands into a national monitoring network and launched "routine" administrative inspection operations in the waters.

On Sept 14, China's first batch of marine surveillance ships reached the territorial waters around the Diaoyu Islands.

Moreover, since Sept 11, the SOA has formally introduced maritime environment forecasting for the sea areas around the Diaoyu Islands.

On the same day, China's top meteorological center also began providing weather forecasting services for the Diaoyu Islands and their surrounding waters and added the region to the list of domestic cities and areas.

"These are all proof of the fundamental changes in the Diaoyu Islands situation," said Wang Yizhou, deputy dean of the School of International Studies of Peking University.

The Japanese government, however, is maintaining its stance, with some of the country's senior officials repeatedly denying the existence of sovereignty disputes over the Diaoyu Islands.

Qu Xing, president of the China Institute of International Studies, said that although China has always advocated properly resolving territorial disputes through dialogue and negotiation, there is a bottom line that should never be crossed.

Qu noted that China is reluctant to see the situation spiral out of control, but that this is totally up to the Japanese side.

"The Japanese side need to understand the situation and give up illusions of encroaching upon the Diaoyu Islands," said Qu.