At UN China takes aim at Japan over island dispute

Chinese protesters display banners calling for Japan to get out of Diaoyu islands, as known in China and Senkaku in Japan, and for China to boycott Japanese goods outside the Japanese Embassy in Beijing, China, Thursday, Sept. 13, 2012. Japan’s purchase of several disputed islands from their private owners was aimed at keeping nationalist activists at bay and reducing tensions with China, but now the government must deal with Beijing’s anger over the move. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

UNITED NATIONS — China has accused Japan of “grossly violating” Chinese sovereignty by its purchase of some islands in a dispute that has sparked violent anti-Japan protests.

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi pronounced the moves by Japan as “totally illegal and invalid” during a speech late Thursday at the U.N. General Assembly.

He said, “China strongly urges Japan to immediately stop all activities that violate China’s territorial sovereignty” and take concrete actions to correct its “mistakes.”

The spat over the islands, called Diaoyu by China and Senakaku by Japan, has raised tensions between them to their highest level in years.

Japan’s government says the island purchase, from a private Japanese citizen this month, was intended to help manage the dispute.

Like China, Japan is adamant the islands are part of its territory.