Mr. Kenichiro Sasae, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Lodges a Protest against Mr. Cheng Yonghua, Ambassador of the People's Republic of China to Japan

August 15, 2012
Japanese

On Wednesday, August 15, Mr. Kenichiro Sasae, Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, summoned H.E. Mr. Cheng Yonghua, Ambassador of the People's Republic of China (PRC) to Japan, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at around 6:25 pm., Mr. Sasae stated the basic stance of Japan regarding the Senkaku Islands, and lodged a strong protest, stating that it was seriously regrettable that not only did the vessels on which activists from Hong Kong, etc., were aboard entered into the territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands, but that these activists illegally landed on Uotsurishima Island.
In response to this, Ambassador Cheng stated that he would immediately report Vice-Minister Sasae's protest to his home country. He also expressed China's own assertion regarding the Senkaku Islands. Moreover, Ambassador Cheng also expressed his wish that this incident would not influence the bilateral relations.

(*The foregoing is a provisional translation. The date indicated above denotes the date of issue of the original press release in Japanese.)

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