Japan: The Japanese government on August 1, 2014 announced that it has given names to 158 remote islets that define its territorial waters, including some of the disputed Senkaku Islands, to clarify Japan's sovereignty over them. Geopolitical experts see this as a move to counter China's growing assertiveness in the East China Sea.
The names of the 158 islets were announced on the government's website on oceanic policies after a panel studying security for remote islands proposed on June 30 that they be given names. The names will now be listed on maps and marine charts to be issued by the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan and the Japan Coast Guard.
Countering the effort, China has now objected to move and reasserted its claims over the Japanese-controlled islets in the East China Sea and called them Diaoyu.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said China told media, “China resolutely opposes an action by the Japanese side that infringes on China's territorial sovereignty.” He added that the decision to name the islets was “unilateral” and “illegal”; therefore, it has no effect.
Source: Global Post
