April 18, 2012

Tokyo Governor Ishihara Shintaro on April 17 announced Tokyo’s plan to buy the Senkaku Islands, which are claimed by China.

The metropolitan government is in negotiations with Japanese owners of three islands of the Senkaku chain, Uotsurijima, Kita-kojima, and Minami-kojima, said the governor.

Administrated by Ishigaki City, Okinawa Prefecture, these islands were sold to civilians before the war and are now leased by the national government for about 25 million yen a year.

In his lecture in Washington on April 16, Ishihara expressed his intent to obtain the assembly’s approval and make an official contract for their purchase this year.

On April 17, Chief Cabinet Secretary Fujimura Osamu said at a press conference that the central government may purchase the islands if necessary.

Tokyo Metropolitan Assembly member of the Japanese Communist Party Oyama Tomoko commented that the municipality should not intervene in the dispute with China by buying the Senkaku Islands. The dispute needs to be peacefully solved between the two countries, she stressed.