Safeguarding sovereignty a long-term struggle

A senior marine administration official said Thursday that safeguarding China's sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands, as well as its national marine rights and interests, will be a long-term and critical struggle.

Chen Lianzeng, deputy director of the State Oceanic Administration, said at a symposium on protecting the Diaoyu Islands that all SOA subsidiaries should fully understand the severity of China's struggle to safeguard its rights on the islands.

The Diaoyu Islands issue concerns territorial sovereignty, marine interests and Sino-Japan relations. Safeguarding the Diaoyu Islands and China's marine interests carries strategic significance, Chen said.

Liu Cigui, head of the SOA, said the Japanese government's recent move to "nationalize" part of the Diaoyu Islands is a substantive step in violating China's sovereignty over the islands.

The move means that the struggle centering around the Diaoyu Islands has entered a more complicated and intense phase, according to Liu.

Analysts from Chinese universities and research institutes suggested at the symposium that the mainland and Taiwan can make cooperative efforts concerning the issue.