The Ishigaki city council in Okinawa prefecture approved a bill that strengthened Japan's control over the uninhabited island group called Senkakus, 1,931 km southwest of Tokyo.
Bengaluru: After its kerfuffle with India leading to the blood-curling deaths of 20 Indian soldiers at the Galwan Valley clash, Japan has decided to complete an integration process of a group of islands.
Interestingly, Beijing has also set its eyes on this archipelago.
As reported by a popular website, the Ishigaki city council in Okinawa prefecture approved a bill that strengthened Japan's control over the uninhabited island group called Senkakus, 1,931 km southwest of Tokyo.
Interestingly, China calls it Diaoyus. Japan has been administering it since 1972.
The website also added that, in a statement issued by China's Foreign Ministry, the islands are its "inherent territories". Beijing urged Japan to "abide by the spirit of the four-principle consensus, avoid creating new incidents on the Diaoyu Islands issue, and take practical actions to maintain the stability of the East China Sea situation".
However, the city council in Japan said that the bill was necessary to "improve the efficiency of administrative procedures".
Japan has been complaining that Chinese ships have been seen in the disputed area since April.
The website notes that Japan's cabinet secretary last week reiterated that the Senkakus are under Tokyo's control and "unquestionably" their territory historically and under international law. "It is extremely serious that these activities continue. "We will respond to the Chinese side firmly and calmly," he had warned.
As per WION, according to the bill, the administrative name of the island group will be changed from Tonoshiro to Tonoshiro Senkaku, in a bid to ward off confusion, as another area in Japan is known by the name of Ishigaki, as reported by local media in Japan.
Japan claims that the move was made to ease administrative function within the country, henceforth not taking into account any international actors.
This move is somewhat similar to India abrogating Articles 370 and 35A which enabled a complete integration of Jammu and Kashmir with the rest of India.
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