Remarks by Assistant Foreign Minister Le Yucheng at the Symposium on the Issue of Diaoyu Dao
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2012/09/14
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Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, 14 September 2012
Experts and scholars,
Friends from across the society,
Good
afternoon. I wish to thank the hosts, China Institute of International
Studies, Beijing Youth Federation and Xinhuanet, for inviting me to this
symposium. We are all well aware of the background of this meeting.
Four days ago, regardless of the repeated serious representations made
by the Chinese side, the Japanese government announced the "purchase" of
Diaoyu Dao and its affiliated Nanxiao Dao and Beixiao Dao and the
"nationalization" of these islands. What the Japanese government did
constitutes a gross violation of China's territorial sovereignty. The
Chinese government and people have expressed firm opposition to and
strong indignation over this action. I would like to use the opportunity
today to share with you a few personal observations on this matter.
Japan
has been creating trouble and making waves on the issue of Diaoyu Dao
for quite some time. This year alone, the Japanese government has named
some of Diaoyu Dao's affiliated islands; some members of the Japanese
Diet went "angling" in the waters of Diaoyu Dao; right-wingers landed on
the island and staged the farce of a so-called "ceremony to mourn the
victims of war". Finally, the Japanese government has come out from
behind the curtain to execute the so-called plan to "purchase" the
islands. This course of actions, which are closely sequenced, fully
demonstrates that Japan's "purchase of the islands" is by no means an
isolated event. It is a result of the changing political climate in
Japan. There is a sinister tendency inside Japan that is taking Japan
and China-Japan relations down an extremely dangerous road.
Japan's
economy has been in the doldrums over the past two decades. Hit hard by
the international financial crisis and last year's devastating
earthquake on March 11, Japan can hardly afford to be optimistic about
its economic outlook. Instability and uncertainties abound in the
Japanese politics as a result of ferocious political infighting and
frequent change of government. The Japanese right-wing forces,
represented by Shintaro Ishihara, Governor of Tokyo, have been using
these domestic problems to incite tensions and make trouble, and
gradually gained momentum. Some Japanese politicians would very often
come out to publicly deny the history of Japanese aggression, the
Nanjing Massacre, comfort women and other wartime atrocities. This shows
the right-wing forces have become so energetic and assertive that they
are already affecting the climate and future course of Japanese
politics. Japan's neighbors and the international community have already
warned that Japan is moving towards "ultra-rightism". Rather than
keeping a lid on the trouble-making right-wing forces, the Japanese
authorities have chosen to appease and give a free rein to them. The
Japanese authorities have even used these forces as a shield to make
provocations on neighboring countries in order to shift the attention of
its domestic public to somewhere else. This has strained Japan's ties
with almost all of its neighbors. At the same time, the Japanese
government is quite active in trying to revise its peace constitution
and the Three Non-Nuclear Principles in an attempt to get out of the
bounds of the post-war order. These are highly dangerous developments
that should put us on the alert.
The
sinister tendency in Japan is particularly obvious in the Japanese
approach to China-Japan relations. There are always some people in Japan
who can hardly come to terms with the fact that China is growing
stronger, and who can hardly bear to see the Chinese people becoming
better off. There are always those in Japan who would go out of their
way to make trouble for China and to disrupt China-Japan relations.
Hence they have seized on the issue of Diaoyu Dao as an important lever
to undermine China-Japan relations.
It
is therefore abundantly clear that the tensions surrounding Diaoyu Dao
today are stirred up single-handedly by the Japanese side with the
purpose of rewriting Japan's inglorious history of illegally stealing
Chinese territory and denying the historical fact that Diaoyu Dao
belongs to China. Such attempts, which are null and void, are made to no
avail. A legal maxim known to all says "Nemo dat quod non habet" or "No
one gives what he doesn't have." What Japan is doing is like someone
grabbing a bicycle from his neighbor. No matter who rides that bicycle,
he or his son, it does not change the fact that the bicycle does not
belong to him. Whatever "deals" Japan makes on Diaoyu Dao and its
affiliated islands, whatever Japan does with the islands, it will not,
not even in the slightest terms, change the historical fact that Japan
invaded and occupied Chinese territory, and it will not change at all
China's territorial sovereignty over Diaoyu Dao and its affiliated
islands.
Japan has dished
out numerous fallacies on the so-called "purchase of the islands" in an
attempt to cover up the truth and mislead public opinion. We have with
us today quite many experts on Japanese and international issues. We
should explain in greater depth the real ownership and history of Diaoyu
Dao and let the world see the truth on the issue of Diaoyu Dao. Japan's
fallacies can be summed up as the following four points.
First,
Japan claims that Diaoyu Dao is "terra nullius". This is completely
groundless. Abundant historical documents show that Diaoyu Dao and other
islands were first discovered, named and exploited by the Chinese
people. Before the 15th century, some businessmen and fishermen in
China's Southeast coast used Diaoyu Dao as a mark for navigation and the
Chinese have engaged in production activities on these islands and in
their adjacent waters. Since the early years of the Ming Dynasty, Diaoyu
Dao and other islands have been put under the jurisdiction of China's
coastal defense. This fact was recognized by Japan in explicit terms in
the Japanese historical records till the late 19th century. The Diaoyu
Dao Islands have, therefore, been part of China since ancient times.
This is not a baseless or unfounded statement. Rather it has every piece
of irrefutable evidence.
Second,
Japan claims that there is no territorial dispute between China and
Japan. In fact, Japan seized on the first Sino-Japanese war (1894-1895)
and illegally occupied Diaoyu Dao. After the Second World War, Diaoyu
Dao and its affiliated islands were returned to China according to the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation. In 1951, the Treaty of Peace with Japan (commonly known as the Treaty of San Francisco,
a treaty partial in nature) was signed between Japan, the United States
and some other countries, placing the Ryukyu Islands (known as Okinawa
today) under the administration of the United States. In 1953, the Civil
Administration of the Ryukyu Islands under the control of the United
States arbitrarily expanded its jurisdiction to include Diaoyu Dao and
its affiliated islands, which are in fact Chinese territories. In 1971,
Japan and the United States signed the Okinawa Reversion Agreement,
which arbitrarily included Diaoyu Dao and other islands in the
territories and territorial waters to be reverted to Japan. The Chinese
government has, from the very beginning, firmly opposed and never
recognized such backroom deals between Japan and the United States
concerning Chinese territories. Facts are facts, and history is not to
be reversed. Japan's claim that there is no dispute between China and
Japan over Diaoyu Dao is an outright denial of the outcomes of the
victory of the World Anti-Fascist War and constitutes a direct challenge
to the post-war international order.
Third,
Japan claims that there is no common understanding between China and
Japan on shelving territorial disputes. This is an out and out lie.
During the negotiations on the normalization of China-Japan relations in
1972 and on the signing of the Sino-Japanese Treaty of Peace and
Friendship in 1978, the then leaders of the two countries, bearing in
mind the larger interest of China-Japan relations, reached important
common understanding on "leaving the issue of Diaoyu Dao to be resolved
later". This opened the door to normalization of China-Japan relations
and was followed by tremendous progress in China-Japan relations and
stability and tranquility in East Asia in the following 40 years. But
now the Japanese authorities deny the previous common understanding
reached between the two countries. This shows a lack of the very basic
integrity of a state and seriously shakes the foundation of political
mutual trust between China and Japan.
Fourth,
Japan claims that the government is cornered into buying the islands.
It says that the government buys the islands in order to avoid damage to
China-Japan relations that may be caused by Shintaro Ishihara's
purchase of the islands and to keep the situation in Diaoyu Dao
"peaceful and stable". This is nothing but a pretext. The fact and the
outcome turn out to be that Ishihara first set the stage and put on the
farce of "islands purchase", then the Japanese government, with thinly
veiled pretexts, echoed and joined him in this farce, one coaxing and
the other coercing. Their aim is to strengthen Japan's "legal status" on
the issue of Diaoyu Dao. Should there be any truth in the Japanese
government's explanations, we cannot but ask: who has the final say in
Japan? Who should we be dealing with? If the Japanese side keeps making
trouble this way, how can one expect a "stable" situation in Diaoyu Dao?
Since
Japan started to "buy the islands" in April, the leaders of the Party
Central Committee and the State Council have attached great importance
to the development of the situation. They made quite a number of
important instructions and engaged with the Japanese side through
in-depth talks. President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao and other
Chinese leaders made clear to the Japanese side, on various occasions,
China's firm position and urged the Japanese side to fully recognize the
gravity of the situation and handle the Diaoyu Dao issue properly and
prudently. China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Embassy in Japan made
repeated and frequent representations to the Japanese side, urging the
Japanese side to immediately stop all unilateral actions and return to
the right track of managing disagreements through dialogue and
consultation.
Regardless
of repeated strong representations of the Chinese side, the Japanese
government announced on 10 September the "islands purchase", to which
the Chinese side made immediate and strong responses. China's Ministry
of Foreign Affairs issued a solemn statement right after the
announcement. Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi immediately summoned the
Japanese ambassador to China and lodged a strong protest to the Japanese
side. The Chinese ambassador to Japan also made solemn representation
to the Japanese side in Tokyo. In the past few days, the Foreign Affairs
Committee of the National People's Congress, the Foreign Affairs
Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political
Consultative Conference, the All-China Students Federation, the
All-China Youth Federation and other institutions all issued statements
and the spokesperson of the Ministry of National Defense made remarks,
condemning the despicable act of the Japanese government.
At
the same time, the Chinese government has taken a series of measures to
state and strengthen the position of China on its sovereignty over
Diaoyu Dao. We have established and announced base points and baselines
of the territorial sea of Diaoyu Dao and its affiliated islands in line
with the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Territorial Sea and the Contiguous Zone. This is consistent with relevant provisions of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Early this morning, Ambassador Li Baodong, China's Permanent
Representative to the United Nations, deposited the coordinates table
and chart of the base points and baselines of the territorial sea of
China's Diaoyu Dao and its affiliated islands with UN Secretary-General
Ban Ki-moon. Announcing base points and baselines of the territorial sea
is the basis of establishing waters under national jurisdiction, on the
basis of which the territorial sea, exclusive economic zone and
continental shelf can be established according to the provisions of
UNCLOS. This has given us a clearer legal basis to safeguard China's
sovereignty over Diaoyu Dao and China's sovereign rights and
jurisdiction in the waters around the islands. Today, convoys of China's
maritime surveillance vessels have arrived in the waters of Diaoyu Dao
on a law enforcement patrol mission to uphold China's rights. This is
another strong measure that we take to safeguard our territorial
sovereignty.
In addition,
we have announced that we will carry out routine surveillance and
survey on Diaoyu Dao and its affiliated islands, and China Central
Television (CCTV) has started to broadcast meteorological forecast and
maritime environment forecast of Diaoyu Dao and its surrounding waters.
All these measures have reaffirmed and strengthened China's sovereign
rights.
The major
countermeasures adopted over the past few days have upheld China's
sovereignty over Diaoyu Dao and dealt a blow to Japan's blatant attempt
to violate China's territorial sovereignty. Going forward, we will
continue to react with robust countermeasures in light of the
developments of the situation to safeguard China's territorial
sovereignty.
Dear Friends and Colleagues,
I
highly appreciate the theme of today's symposium: "Uniting and working
hard to safeguard sovereignty". In face of the latest developments of
the situation surrounding Diaoyu Dao, we should enhance confidence. We
should note that our motherland is growing more prosperous and stronger
by the day. China's international status is rising fast. Gone are the
days when the Chinese nation was bullied by others at will. We should
maintain unity. China had untold sufferings from the Japanese aggression
in modern history, because our country was then as disunited as a heap
of loose sand. But there is a world of difference in today's China. As
long as we pull together and act in unison, nobody can ride roughshod
over China and any external provocation is doomed to failure. We should
work hard. We must run our own affairs well and make our country even
stronger. This is the solid foundation for us to safeguard state
sovereignty and foil any external aggression.
Lastly,
I would once again seriously remind the Japanese side that the
responsibility for the current state of China-Japan relations rests
fully with the Japanese side and the ball is in its court as to where
our relations are heading in the future. Over the past 40 years since
the normalization of China-Japan relations, China has always upheld the
larger interest of bilateral ties and appropriately addressed problems
and differences between the two countries. But China-Japan relations
cannot grow only on Chinese effort alone. Japan must immediately stop
all actions that harm China's territorial sovereignty and return as
quickly as possible to the common understanding reached between the two
sides and to the track of settling disputes through negotiations. China
will in no way recognize Japan's illegal occupation of and the so-called
"actual control" over Diaoyu Dao. Nor will we tolerate any unilateral
Japanese action on Diaoyu Dao. The will and resolve of the Chinese
government and people to uphold China's territorial sovereignty are firm
and will not be shaken by any force.
Thank you.
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Friday, September 14, 2012
Chinese View of the Diaoyu Dao / Senkaku Island Dispute with Japan
In light of the brewing confrontation between China and Japan over
the Senkaku / Diaoyu Archipelago, the statement below may be of in
interest. It provides the Chinese view of the origins and current
status of the controversy as of yesterday, Beijing time..
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