East China Sea: Japan’s new PM Suga faces test as China pushes Diaoyu claims with digital museum

Name: Japan’s new PM Yoshihide Suga inherits economic woes, Tokyo Olympics challenge
Uploaded: 2020-10-05T09:16:53.000Z
Duration: 2 min 11 s
Description: Japan’s new PM Yoshihide Suga inherits economic woes, Tokyo Olympics challenge

Tokyo has lodged an official complaint over a new website detailing Beijing’s sovereignty claims over the disputed islands, known in Japan as the Senkakus

Experts say Beijing may be testing the new leader’s mettle – but it risks forcing his government into taking a tougher stance

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Islands in the East China Sea that are known as the Diaoyus in China but the Senkakus in Japan. Photo: Kyodo

Julian Ryall

Published: 5:16pm, 5 Oct 2020Updated: 10:40pm, 5 Oct 2020

Japan has lodged an official complaint with China over the opening of a digital museum that details Beijing’s claims to sovereignty over disputed islands in the East China Sea, the government’s top spokesman said on Monday.

“The Senkaku Islands have been recognised historically and under international law as an inherent part of Japan’s territory and we maintain effective control over them,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Katsunobu Kato said in a press conference in Tokyo, adding that Beijing was “not in a position” to create a website about islands that China refers to as the Diaoyu archipelago.

Kato added that Japan had demanded that China take down the website.

Analysts warn that the new site detailing Beijing’s claims to sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands could force the new Japanese government of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga to take a far firmer line on the matter with China.

The website is being operated by the National Marine Data and Information Service of China, an agency of the national government, and went live on Saturday. The slickly produced site takes visitors on a tour of a virtual museum and is titled “Diaoyu Dao: The Inherent Territory of China.”

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The uninhabited islands are presently administered by Japan, which refers to them as the Senkakus.