The government of Japan gave an approval for new elementary school textbooks on Friday, April 4, 2014, which state that the controversial Diaoyu Islands are part of the territory of Japan. The recent move has been criticized by China immediately.
The updated textbooks will be used for the upcoming academic year which begins in April 2015, for the students of fifth and sixth grades. The renewed textbooks received the approval from the Education Ministry of Japan. The country’s Asahi Shimbun daily says that all social studies textbooks have been approved for use in elementary schools in 2015.
The new textbooks will mention the Diaoyu Islands, which are known as Senkaku islands in Japan. The paper added that seven out of 14 textbooks were submitted for screening and they claimed that the Diaoyu Islands are inherent territories of Japan. Hong Lei, the spokesperson for Chinese Foreign Ministry asked Japan to stop with the provocations and teach children the correct historical views.
Hong went on to say that China was very concerned about the Japanese Foreign Ministry policy paper, which also claimed that the islands belonged to Japan. It was also clarified by the spokesperson that the stance of China over its relations with Japan was consistent and clear.
Photo Credits: Japan Daily Press
