Japan cannot bear consequences of provoking China

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said during the ruling Democratic Party of Japan's leadership race on Sept. 22 that he will reassert Japan's sovereignty claims and hold a tough stance on territorial disputes.

The Japanese government sent many police officers to the Diaoyu Islands a day earlier. It seems Noda is again taking advantage of the Diaoyu Islands dispute to win more support for his party in the House of Representatives election. As Japan remains unrepentant about "purchasing" the Diaoyu Islands and strays further down the wrong path, it is natural for China to postpone the reception marking the 40th anniversary of the normalization of China-Japan relations.

Previously, Noda said the Japanese government was "forced to purchase the Diaoyu Islands," but took the "purchase of the islands" as his political achievement, and admitted underestimation of the consequences of "purchasing the islands." Now, he is staging the fourth act of the farce of "purchasing the islands."

China and Japan are close neighbors. The Chinese government attaches great importance to China-Japan relations, and seeks win-win cooperation between the two countries.

However, the Japanese government's illegal "purchase of the Diaoyu Islands" has severely challenged China's bottom line. No matter what the Noda administration says, the "purchase of the Diaoyu Islands" by the Japanese government, rather than by the Tokyo metropolitan government, has greatly enhanced Japan's control of the islands, and upset the status quo over the islands.

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