MOSCOW, August 4 (RIA Novosti) - Tokyo hopes Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping will meet in November to discuss bilateral issues, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Monday.
“Japan and China have certain issues, and that is why we need to have a dialogue. It would be great if we could arrange a meeting of the two countries’ leaders during an APEC [Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperations] summit in Beijing in November. Japan is open for discussion, and we hope China is too,” Suga said.
Japan-China relations became strained when in September 2012 the Japanese government purchased three out of five Senkaku Islands – also known as the Diaoyu Islands to China – from a Japanese proprietor in a move which caused a negative reaction from China since it considers the islands its own territory.
The two countries have been disputing the status of the islands since the 1970s. Japan claims to own the territory since 1895, with the islands being unclaimed before that. Beijing claims that the islands became part of China 600 years ago, with Japanese maps from the late 18th century showing the islands as Chinese territory.
After World War II, the United States took control of the islands before handing them over to Japan in 1972 together with Okinawa Island. Japanese authorities point out that the Senkaku Islands have always been part of the Okinawa Prefecture, while China’s claims arise in light of the islands being rich with mineral resources.
