The Japanese ruling party is planning to continue nationalizing 280 offshore islets, a move Chinese experts believe is aimed at further territorial water expansion after the "nationalization" of the disputed Diaoyu Islands in 2012.
The Sankei Shimbun on Sunday quoted official sources as saying that the Liberal Democratic Party had decided to nationalize these uninhabited islets and set them as the new base points of Japan's territorial waters.
Japan has pursued becoming a maritime power, which pushes it to expand marine territories, Wang Haipeng, an expert in maritime and border studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times, adding that setting the 280 offshore islets as the new base points of Japanese territorial waters would supply support for territorial water expansion in the future.
"Japan wants to show that the plan to nationalize these offshore islets is in line with its nationalization of the Diaoyu Islands and bundle their validity together," said Wang Haipeng.
The Japanese government declared it had nationalized the disputed Diaoyu Islands in September 2012, which aroused strong opposition from China and began a sharp decline in China-Japan relations.
The Japanese minister in charge of ocean policy and territorial issues, Ichita Yamamoto, said nationalization would be a "very important" part of strengthening management of Japanese territorial waters.
Yamamoto said that considering the importance of offshore islets, it is necessary for Japan to nationalize these islets and protect maritime interests by setting new territorial water base points.
The relationship between China and Japan reached a freezing point recently after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe paid a controversial visit to the war-linked Yasukuni Shrine where 14 Japanese Class-A war criminals from World War II are honored.
Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying Monday said that Abe would not be welcome in China after his Yasukuni Shrine visit and that "he closed the dialogue door with Chinese leaders by himself."
Hua's remark comes after Abe Monday said he wishes to directly explain to Chinese President Xi Jinping and South Korean President Park Geun-hye why he visited the Yasukuni Shrine.
"I believe having dialogue with China and South Korea is extremely important for the peace and stability of the region," Abe said Monday in his New Year press conference.
Abe said he also wanted to explain his plan on revising Japan's pacifist constitution, a move China considers will expand Japan's military power.
South Korea on Monday also rejected Abe's call for talks over the shrine visit.
"I feel sorry that the environment for cooperation repeatedly gets shattered at a time when the cooperation between the two countries should be expanding," the AP quoted South Korean President Park as saying at a press conference in Seoul Monday.
Abe came to power just over a year ago and has not held direct talks with either leader.
"The door of dialogue between China's leaders and Abe has been shut already, and it is 'gangster logic' that Abe requires China to talk without preconditions," said Lü Yaodong, a research fellow with the Institute of Japanese Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
"China wants to see Abe's sincerity and practical actions, not his words," Wang told the Global Times.
"Abe has no qualification to bring up the dialogue," he added, noting that Abe has caused a series of troubles to Sino-Japanese relations.
Yang He contributed to this story