The China-Japan spat over the islands intensified in the recent weeks after Japan bought the islands from a private party, which China said amounted to nationalisation of its property.
While thousands held marches in front of Japanese missions in China and in some cases damaged Japanese shops and factories, China has announced the islands as its baselines for its maritime boundary and submitted its claims to UN.
Beijing also dispatched about a dozen maritime surveillance ships to the waters of the islands controlled by Japan and called on Tokyo to abide by the informal agreement reached three decades ago to not press ahead with the claims and leave it to posterity to settle the dispute.
Japan in turn argued that it bought the islands to prevent the right wing politicians' plans to convert them into tourist spots.
The foreign ministers of the two countries held talks on the sidelines of UN General Assembly yesterday while vice foreign ministers held talks in Beijing to restore normalcy. But apparently no progress has been made in the talks amid concerns that the growing tensions would jeopardise the $ 345 billion trade between the two countries causing lot of hardships to people on both sides.
Image: Japanese PM Yoshihiko Noda
China sends maritime ships to island controlled by Japan
Fresh anti-Japan protests erupt in China
US envoy's car takes a hit in anti-Japan stir in Beijing
China to brief India on territorial dispute with Japan
G4 nations express common vision for UNSC reform