Instigated by Shintaro Ishihara, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government again submitted an application to the Japanese Government, claiming to board the Diaoyu Islands on Aug. 29.
Ishihara had repeatedly told the media that he had concerned the Diaoyu Islands for many years. Decades ago, he had installed a lighthouse on the Diaoyu Islands with "Seirankai," a Japanese right-wing organization. Since then, he had been appealing Japanese congressmen to board the Diaoyu Islands.
The repeated disputes over the Diaoyu Islands had caused certain negative influence on China-Japan relations, but they never were so awkward as today.
It is because both Chinese and Japanese leaders made great efforts to stabilize the overall situation of China-Japan relations since the two states normalized their diplomatic relations in 1972. They knew that some things were more important than these islands and they firmly believed that only by abiding by the agreement reached by the leaders of the two states can the storm be defused.
