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Non-government group plans to lease, develop Diaoyudao
(Chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2005-02-21 08:50
Diaoyu Island and
adjacent isles are part of the the Chinese territorial sovereignty.
[www.cfdd.org.cn] | A Chinese non-government organization with an aim of defending the
Diaoyudao Islands and adjacent isles has been registered in Hong Kong, and will
apply to Chinese authorities to develop the islands.
China Federation of Defending Diaoyudao Islands Limited was registered with
the authorities in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in November
12, 2004, according to a China Youth Daily report on Monday.
Tong Zheng, president and founder of the federation, said a meeting of
the board of directors will be held soon. Tong disclosed that the federation
will soon submit an application to the State Administration of
Oceanography to lease the Diaoyudao Islands for tourism and
exploration activities.
It is learned that the federation will be
headquartered in Beijing and has its office in Hong Kong. Its articles of
association will also be published in its website (www.cfdd.org.cn).
It also plans to
organize an exhibition of the islands, part of the Chinese territorial
sovereignty in the coming months.
Japanese move on islands "illegal"
Japan said it had
placed under "state control" a lighthouse built by nationalists on a disputed
island in the East China Sea despite claims by China.
Some Hong Kong
residents protest against Japan's move on the Diaoyu Islands before the
Japanese consulate in the special administrative region on February 16.
[newsphoto] | Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman
Kong Quan said in Beijing on February 16 that Diaoyu Islands and neighboring
islands have been China's territories since ancient time, and any unilateral
action is "illegal and invalid".
Earlier, Kong said China has always maintained that the dispute should be
addressed by negotiation and consultation. "No unilateral action should be
taken," Kong said on January 18.
The 5.6-meter (18-foot) lighthouse was erected in 1988 by Japanese right-wing
activists to mark a claim on Uotsuri-jima, the largest of the Senkaku Islands,
known as Diaoyu in China, which lie between China's Taiwan Island and Japan.
"Those who built the lighthouse said they no longer can run it," Vice Foreign
Minister Shuzen Tanigawa said.
"Since they have abandoned the right of possession, it has been transferred"
to the state, Tanigawa said.
"Japan has been saying they (the islands) are traditional Japanese
territory," he said. "Even if we have some trouble, we are going to protect what
we have to protect."
The move comes amid rising tensions between Japan and China, including a
dispute over a major gasfield near the islands.
Tokyo has already informed Beijing of the transfer of lighthouse authority,
Tanigawa claimed, adding that it had yet to receive any reaction from the
Chinese side.
Japan declared the oil-rich but uninhabited islands were part of its
territory in 1895, the same year it took over Taiwan.
In March, Japanese authorities arrested and deported seven Chinese activists
after they went to the islands, causing a diplomatic row with Beijing.
The activists were the first people to land on the disputed islands since
1996.
Relations between Japan and China have been increasingly strained in recent
months in part over disputes about the nearby gasfield where Beijing began
drilling in 2003 despite Tokyo's protests.
In December, Japan for the first time listed China as a potential threat in
revised defense guidelines.
China, in turn, has been incensed over Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's
repeated annual visits to Yasukuni shrine, which honors Japanese war dead
including war criminals in a bitter reminder of Japan's militaristic past.
China has refused all bilateral state visits due to Koizumi's pilgrimages.
The Japanese premier has defended his visits but has not gone to the shrine this
year.
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