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Exclusive: Japan's three flawed claims over the Diaoyu Islands

By Meng Zhe, Xu-Pan Yiru, and Zhang Yiyun | China Daily | Updated: 2025-11-27 23:48
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Recently, the Japanese government took new action over the Diaoyu Islands. Tokyo's "National Museum of Territory and Sovereignty" just added three new sets of documents about the Diaoyu Islands, trying to cook up evidence for Japan's illegal claims.

① A so-called "1950 Internal Document from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs".
The truth is: 1950 was still the early stage of rebuilding the post-World War II international order, and the peace treaty with Japan hadn't even been finalized yet. We also can't verify the authenticity of these so-called documents.

② A report formed after a Qing Dynasty official's visit to Japan in 1889.
The truth is: This report is just one person's view and can't possibly override the whole chain of historical evidence. Official documents from both the Ming and Qing dynasties consistently list the Diaoyu Islands as part of Chinese territory.

③ Documents from 1895 related to the Qing Dynasty's forced cession of Taiwan to Japan.
The truth is: After the First Sino-Japanese War and the Treaty of Shimonoseki in 1895, Japan forcibly seized Taiwan and its affiliated islands, including the Diaoyu Islands. The documents disclosed during the transfer of Taiwan only addressed the administrative transfer of Taiwan's main islands and major affiliated islands, without listing every small island.

Japan is waving around three cherry-picked files like they're "proof", but cutting up history and quoting it out of context won't change the facts.

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