China Releases Documentary Claiming the Senkaku Islands Are Chinese Territory, Raising Fears of Renewed Tensions with Japan

[Financial News] China has produced and unveiled a documentary asserting its sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands, known in China as the Diaoyu Dao, and has launched a public campaign aimed at Japan.
According to Xinhua News Agency on the 27th, China Central Television (CCTV) premiered the five-part documentary "Diaoyu Dao: The Truth Beneath the Waves" through CGTN, China's external propaganda outlet. CGTN will air one episode a day on its English channel through the 31st, and a 75-minute film version is scheduled to air next month on CCTV's documentary channel.
CCTV said the documentary "focuses on proving that Diaoyu Dao has long been China's inherent territory, based on oral histories, expert commentary and historical documents." It added that the film "presents evidence supporting territorial claims over time, exposes Japan's decade-long attempt to seize Diaoyu Dao, shows how Japan, which says it stands with its neighbors, has turned into a country that harms them, and examines the legal loopholes created under U.S.-Japan coordination." CCTV also said it "cites navigation records from more than 600 years ago, historical materials from China and Ryukyu, the former name of Okinawa, and old maps from around the world to argue that Diaoyu Dao is Chinese territory."
China and Japan have continued to trade accusations over the Senkaku Islands, the East China Sea and Taiwan, even as ties have cooled since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's remarks in November last year about possible intervention in a Taiwan contingency. China maintains that the Senkaku Islands are historically and legally its territory, while Japan controls the islands de facto and insists they are its own territory.

[email protected] Hong Chaewan Reporter