bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Letters

I refer to the report ("China urges Japan to mend diplomatic ties", January 25).
You said that senior Chinese officials urged Tokyo "to take 'positive steps' to mend ties" during talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's special envoy Natsuo Yamaguchi.
Perhaps the first "positive step" should be taken by China by stopping "patrolling" of the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands by its jets and patrol boats as if they are already Chinese territory.
This kind of behaviour by Beijing can easily start a skirmish between Chinese and Japanese jet fighters.
It only needs a trigger-happy jet pilot on either side to start a war between the two countries, with the US being dragged into it by the US-Japan Mutual Defence Assistance Agreement.
Even those countries that sympathise with China's claim over the islands would not condone this kind of self-righteous behaviour.
It would be far better for Beijing to tell the Japanese public about the article, "The Inconvenient Truth Behind the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands", by Taiwanese scholar Han-yi Shaw, which was reprinted in The New York Times.
In his article, Shaw said that Japan's claim on the islands is based on the Japanese government having done repeated surveys from 1885 and, finding the islands uninhabited, annexing them in 1895.
However, as Shaw points out, there is evidence from his research, including the Japanese National Archives, that "clearly demonstrates that the Meiji government acknowledged Chinese ownership back in 1885".
That year, the Japanese foreign minister wrote: "At this time, if we were to publicly place national markers, this must necessarily invite China's suspicion."
Japan claims that taking over the islands was not related to the first Sino-Japanese war, because if that had been the case, it would have had to return the islands to China under the San Francisco Peace Treaty signed between Japan and the Allied powers in 1951.
It is up to the world to judge whether Japan's claim is the truth.
How was it that it did nothing about the islands for 10 years, and then, in 1895, just happened to take them over when it saw it was going to win the first Sino-Japanese war?
Alex Woo, Tsim Sha Tsui


Tokyo releases captain of Chinese fishing boat found in Japanese EEZ

Beijing and Tokyo in new maritime stand-off after Japan seizes Chinese boat, holds captain

Why more Japanese than ever support strengthening the Self-Defence Forces

Beijing hits back at ‘extremely hypocritical’ critics of PLA drills around Taiwan

Diaoyu Islands

Stating historical facts a better strategy than scrambling fighter jets

Yamaguchi, leader of Japan's New Komeito party, shakes hands with China's president-in-waiting Xi during a meeting at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. Photo: Reuters

Opinion

China-Japan relations