Senkaku Islands' owners want Japan to take China to ICJ to settle ownership tiff

Tokyo, Sept. 20 (ANI): Japan should take China to the International Court of Justice to settle the Senkaku Islands dispute once and for all, the owners of the islands have said.

An unprecedented number of demonstrations and riots broke out in China immediately after Japan announced that it had bought the islands from there owners, Kunioki Kurihara, for 2.05 billion yen.

Angry Chinese burned and looted Japanese stores and products in China as they proclaimed that the islands, which they call Diaoyu, belong to them.

According to the Japan Times, Hiroyuki Kurihara, whose older brother sold three of the islands to the government, and has been acting as spokesman for him, expressed hope that Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will take the initiative like he did with the island dispute with South Korea and turn to the ICJ to seek an international judgment on the sovereignty of the Senkakus.

"China is very outspoken about its position over the Senkaku Islands, but Japan has its own position as well, and it needs to get that message out to the global community - and I think the best way is to turn to the ICJ," Kurihara said.

"Once both sides start stating their positions and listing their evidence of sovereignty, there is no end. . . . An objective decision should be made under international law, not by the people of both countries," he added.

According to the report, the Kurihara family bought four of the five Senkaku islands from a family friend, keeping the promise they will not resell them to anyone, but Japan's central government or a local government.

Hiroyuki Kurihara also expressed concern over the violence in China, but said that selling them to the central government was the right thing to do.

"We are getting older and who knows when something would happen to us. It was about risk management," he said.

"We've made countless efforts to protect the islands for 40 years. And, I think, the same thing would have happened if my brother had sold the islands 10 years ago or 10 years from now - because the word 'territory' remained" unresolved in China's view," he added. (ANI)