Just over 10 years ago, on Sept. 11, 2012, the administration of then-Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda officially nationalized three of the four privately owned islands in the Senkakus (Minami Kojima, Kita Kojima and Uotsuri Jima).
It did so simply by changing the title to them (back to nationally owned property) following a Cabinet decision to allow their purchase for ¥2.05 billion the previous day.
China strongly criticized Japan’s actions as “changing the status quo,” but in fact it was the Chinese who had long been doing so.
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