'Absolutely no concession' on Diaoyu Islands: PLA Daily

The PLA Daily, the flagship newspaper of China's armed forces, carried a commentary Wednesday protesting against the Japanese government's "nationalization" of the Diaoyu Islands, vowing "absolutely no concession" on the issue.

Engaging in the illegal trading of China's sacred territory is "a dangerous move" by the Japanese government and on the wrong track of endangering the bigger interest of China-Japan relations, said the article, run under the byline of Luo Yuan.

The Japanese government's attempt by the so-called "nationalization" is doomed to fail and would never be accepted by the Chinese people, the article said.

"The Chinese government and the Chinese people will absolutely make no concession on territorial sovereignty," it said.

The article urged the Japanese government not to misjudge the situation as today's China is no longer the China during the First Sino-Japanese War in 1894. Neither is it the China during the war of Japanese aggression against China in 1937.

"Long gone are the days when the Chinese territory could be grabbed only by an unequal treaty," it said.

Territorial sovereignty is related to national dignity and a country's core interests. The article warned the Japanese government and its rightwing forces not to underestimate the resolution of the Chinese people.

The Chinese government strongly opposed Japan's so-called "purchase" of the Diaoyu Islands and would take necessary measures to safeguard national territorial sovereignty, it said.

"Should the Japanese side insist on going its own way, it would have to bear all serious consequences that arise," the article warned.

The article asked the Japanese government not to pin hopes on its own so-called "advantages in its naval and air force."

It is not like the Chinese and Japanese armies had not engaged in wars before. The Chinese army had used the weapons seized from the Japanese side to defeat the Japanese elite force, the article said.

China's national defense capabilities had achieved a marked development. Inciting wars will only bring disaster to Japan, the article said.

The article also told the Japanese government not to pin hopes on the Chinese government to make any concession.

The Chinese government has reiterated its hope of safeguarding the larger interest of China-Japan relations together with Japan. However, it could only achieved through efforts made by both sides and on the basis of mutual respect, it said.

The article pointed out that "It's impossible for the Chinese government to shoulder the responsibility unilaterally, and the Chinese government certainly would not trade its own security and territorial sovereignty for peace."

The article said the essence of the dispute on the Diaoyu Islands is not simply an issue of territorial claims.

Japan illegally grabbed the Diaoyu Island and the affiliated islets at the end of the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895. China took back the territories that were invaded and occupied by Japan in accordance with the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation after the end of the Second World War, and thus the islands returned to China according to the international law.

As a result, the territorial dispute is not only related to the tragedy endured by the Asian countries, including China under the Japanese aggression, but also indicated whether Japan accepts the outcomes of the Second World War when it unconditionally surrendered, the article said.

The dispute also involved safeguarding the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War, it said.

If letting the Japanese rightwing forces expand unchecked while its government "nationalizes" other country's territory, the Japanese militarism would have a chance of reviving in the future and this could impose serious threat to regional and world peace, the article cautioned.

"The Chinese people had made a significant contribution to that war (the second world war) and they had also paid dearly," the article said. "We'll not let the martyrs' blood to flow in vain."