Japan: China's survey of disputed islands 'unacceptable'

Japan's top government spokesman on Wednesday condemned China over its anticipated survey of disputed islands in the East China Sea, after Chinese media reported that Beijing plans to send a survey team to the islets. "It is totally unacceptable if the report is true," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference. "The Senkaku Islands are inherent Japanese territory in light of history and international law," said Suga, adding that Tokyo will deal with the issue based on its domestic law if the Chinese survey team lands the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands. According to Chinese media on Tuesday, Li Pengde, the deputy head of China's National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation, has said his country will survey "at an appropriate time" the islands, also claimed by China and Taiwan, as part of its plans to publish a new map. The small chain of uninhabited rocky islands, known as Diaoyu in China and Tiaoyutai in Taiwan, lie in rich fishing grounds and waters thought to contain large deposits of oil and natural gas. Relations between the world's second and third-largest economies have sharply deteriorated since Tokyo's nationalization of three of the five major islands in September through purchase from a private Japanese owner.