China says it holds 'indisputable sovereignty' over Senkaku Islands

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BEIJING, July 19 Kyodo -
China has dismissed a U.S. lawmaker's remark that Washington recognizes Japan's
sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Saturday that Beijing holds
''indisputable sovereignty'' over the Japan-administered islands -- called the
Diaoyu in China -- brushing aside the comment Sen. Jim Webb made at a Senate
hearing on Wednesday, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.
Webb, a Democrat who is close to U.S. President Barack Obama, chairs the
Subcommittee on East Asian and Pacific Affairs under the Senate Committee on
Foreign Relations.
Qin said the islands have been Chinese territory since ancient times, and that
no one can change this fact, according to Xinhua.
The islands are also claimed by Taiwan, which calls them the Tiaoyutai.
In its Friday edition, Japan's Sankei Shimbun newspaper quoted Webb as telling
the hearing that despite Japan's control of the islands since World War II and
recognition by the United States and other countries of Japanese sovereignty
over the islands, China still claims they belong to Beijing.
China issued a protest against Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso's remarks in
February that the islands are Japanese territory and fall under the Japan-U.S.
security alliance.
The islands have been under Japanese administrative control since the reversion
of Okinawa to Japan from U.S. administrative rule in 1972.
The Japan-U.S. Security Treaty stipulates that the two nations will work
together if there is a military attack on territories under the administration
of Japan.
==Kyodo
2009-07-19 21:21:28