Japan Press Weekly

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2012 September 5 - 11 [TERRITORIAL ISSUE]

Japan to purchase Senkaku Islands

The government has agreed to pay a landowner 2.05 billion yen for the purchase of the Senkaku Islands.

The Noda Cabinet is expected to confirm this month the expenditure from reserve funds in the FY 2012 national budget.

In April, Tokyo Governor Ishihara Shintaro announced the Tokyo government’s intention to purchase the disputed islands which are administrated by Ishigaki City, Okinawa Prefecture.

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi said on July 9 that Japan’s nationalization of the Senkaku Islands is a matter of course in order to calmly and stably maintain them.

He also said, “The nationalization alone will not resolve the issue. The government needs to make diplomatic efforts in order to rationally argue the legitimacy of Japan’s position.”