Daily publishes challenge to Japanese sovereignty over Okinawa
Call in party mouthpiece comes amid ongoing territorial disputes
People's Daily yesterday published a call for a review of Japan's sovereignty over the island of Okinawa, home to major US bases, with the Asian powers already embroiled in a territorial row.
The article in the Communist Party mouthpiece argued China may have rights to the Ryukyu chain, which includes Okinawa.
Agreements between allied forces during the second world war mean the ownership of the Ryukyu Islands may be in question, the researchers argued in a commentary.
Asked if China considered Okinawa part of Japan, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said scholars had long studied the history of the Ryukyus and Okinawa.
"It may be time to revisit the unresolved historical issue of the Ryukyu Islands," wrote Zhang Haipeng and Li Guoqiang , of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
Okinawa is home to major US air force and marine bases as well as 1.3 million people, nearly all of whom are Japanese nationals and speak Japanese.