China said yesterday that Japan's naming of four uninhabited islets surrounding the disputed Diaoyu Islands was illegal, following a report that Tokyo had given the islets Japanese names.
The Central News Agency cited Japan's Sankei Shimbun daily as saying yesterday that Tokyo had named three islets near Huangwei Yu and one near Chiwei Yu - two major islands in the Diaoyus, known in Japan as the Senkaku Islands.
Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Osamu Fujimura, said this month that it would formally announce the names for all 39 remote islands, including the four islets surrounding the disputed Diaoyus, by the end of March to establish the basis of Japan's exclusive economic zone.
But Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Weimin yesterday reiterated China's sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands.
In a statement issued in response to the report, Liu said that China had lodged an official complaint with Japan over its plan to name the islets off the Diaoyus. 'Any unilateral action by Japan over the Diaoyus would be illegal and void,' Liu said.
Prior to the Lunar New Year, Xinhua raised alarms about the Japanese government's decision to name the islets.
A survey on Sohu.com found that 6,000 respondents - or about 75 per cent of the total - considered the naming an act of aggression by Japan.
