By Zachary Keck
Japan has not recognized a territorial dispute exists with China over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands.
In four point statements released concurrently between Japan and China on Friday, Tokyo appeared to cave on Beijing’s key demand that Japan recognize there is a territorial dispute over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands.
Not so, a Japanese official tells The Diplomat.
“We did not give in to the Chinese demand of acknowledging the existence of a territorial dispute over the Senkakus,” the Japanese official tells The Diplomat by email.
The Japanese English-language translation of the statement reads: “Both sides recognized that they had different views as to the emergence of tense situations in recent years in the waters of the East China Sea, including those around the Senkaku Islands.”
This sentence was crafted “very carefully written” the official explains. “We did not recognize any difference on our positions over the Senkakus, we acknowledged that we have different views of the cause of the tension” in the East China Sea.
Read the full story at The Diplomat