VIENTIANE, Nov. 6 (Xinhua) -- Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi refuted Japan's distorted accounts on the Diaoyu Islands issue at the fourth plenary session of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) Summit here on Tuesday.
Japan, regardless of the summit's theme of cooperation, intentionally distorted facts about the issue of the Diaoyu Islands, a group of islets in the East China Sea which belong to China.
In response, Yang expounded on the history and facts of the Diaoyu Islands and stated the solemn positions of the Chinese government on the issue to the representatives of the participating countries.
The Diaoyu Island and its affiliated islets have been China's sacred territory since ancient times, and have been put under China's effective jurisdiction for a long time, Yang said.
In 1895, Japan illegally occupied the Diaoyu Islands following the Qing government's defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War and forced the Qing government to sign an unequal treaty, which ceded to Japan the islands and other territories, he said.
