Ex-ambassador Uichiro Niwa calls Japan too quick to buy Diaoyus
Tokyo's former ambassador says he questioned move that helped escalate tensions with Beijing
Uichiro Niwa, Tokyo's former ambassador to Beijing, has criticised the Japanese government for rushing into the purchase of the disputed Diaoyu Islands and appealed to both China and Japan to bring the territorial row to a peaceful resolution.
Niwa, who saw Sino-Japanese relations decline to their worst level in years before leaving the post last month, said the only option for both countries was to put aside their differences.
His criticism came as former Japanese prime minister Tomiichi Murayama arrived in China in the latest effort to use diplomatic backchannels to restore ties. Former prime minister Yukio Hatoyama also recently visited. Both senior leaders are considered friendly to China.
Niwa said he questioned the haste of then prime minister Yoshihiko Noda in deciding to buy the islands - known as the Senkakus in Japan - from the Japanese Kurihara family for about two billion yen (HK$170.6 million) in September.
"As ambassador I did ask why the Japanese government was in such a rush and took the decision to purchase the islands in a matter of two days," Niwa said. "It is possible they [the Japanese government] had information that will never come to light, but personally speaking, I don't think the timing of the decision was ideal."
It is widely believed that Noda's hand was forced by Shintaro Ishihara, who was then governor of Tokyo and had six months before announced his own plans to purchase the islands and administer them as a part of Tokyo.
A fund to carry out Ishihara's plan had managed to raise 314 million yen in a matter of weeks.