Japanese foreign minister Genba Koizumi reiterated Thursday that Japan "would never back down" on the Diaoyu Islands issue, further escalating tensions with China following the recent landings on the islands by activists from both countries.

Although he admitted that the government is afraid of creating misunderstandings that would damage "mutual trust," Koizumi said Japan "would never back down on the Diaoyu Islands issue," according to ribenxinwen.com, a Tokyo-based Chinese news portal.

His comments came a day after Tokyo government politicians resubmitted their application to the Japanese government over their plans to land on the Diaoyu Islands for land inspections ahead of a possible purchase of the islands.

They were scheduled to land on the islands on August 29, in a scheme which would also have involved dispatching 30 personnel from the Tokyo government, including officials and real-estate planners, to assess the islands, Asahi Shimbun reported.

It was not known whether Tokyo mayor Shintaro Ishihara, responsible for inciting the Japanese government to "nationalize" the Diaoyu Islands by "buying the islands," was on the name list, the paper said.

The Japanese government said that  before the planned landing date it would try to give a formal reply as to whether or not it would approve the controversial application.

However, out of consideration for Sino-Japanese relations and the Japanese government's own nationalization plans, the Japanese government is not intending to approve Tokyo's plan, Kyodo News reported.

The government previously rejected Tokyo's landing application on Monday.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs told the Global Times Thursday that China's sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands would never be changed.

Certain cultural exchange activities have reportedly been cancelled following the recent escalation of frictions between the two countries.

A commemorative activity to celebrate the friendship between China's Fujian Province and Okinawa in Japan, scheduled to be held in Fujian on September 4, was cancelled by the Fujian provincial government, Kyodo News reported.

A folk group in Okayama decided to call off their October visit to Okayama's sister city, Jiujiang in Jiangxi Province, after becoming concerned that anti-Japanese demonstrations across many cities may have security implications for their visit.

"Japan's right-wing forces, headed by Tokyo mayor Shintaro Ishihara, are aiming to destroy China-Japan relations. They wanted to seize public attention by promoting so-called nationalism, which has brought disaster to relations between the two nations," Yu Zhirong, an expert on Sino-Japanese relations from the Japan Research and Communication Center in Shanghai, told the Global Times.

"Territorial disputes with neighboring countries, the high-pressure of this extremely conservative political power and pressure from the US has put the Japanese government in peril," Geng Xin, deputy director of the Tokyo-based Japan-China Communication Institute, told the Global Times.

Geng called on the Japanese government to carefully maintain control over its right-wing forces to protect Japan's overall strategy.

He said he believes the Yoshihiko Noda administration will try to preserve a healthy relationship between China and Japan.