The newly elected Japanese PM Shinzo Abe has reiterated that Tokyo sees no need to negotiate over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, according to this article from JiJi Press.

“The Senkakus are our territory, so there is no room whatever for negotiations,” Abe said on a television program.

“It was the first time since Abe took office last week that he has ruled out negotiations with China over the Japanese-administered islands.”

Contrast this with comments from the Chinese foreign ministry that Japan should meet China halfway to improve relations between the two countries.

Meanwhile, the Japanese are urging the United Nations to rebuff an argument that the Senkaku-Diaoyu Islands are, if nothing else, the geological property of China.

Also from JiJi Press:

In the petition submitted to the commission in mid-December, China argued that geographical characteristics show the continental shelf in the East China Sea stretches naturally from the country’s mainland and that China’s continental shelf includes the Senkaku islands and extends to the Okinawa Trough off the southernmost Japan prefecture of Okinawa.

And so it goes… You will recall that during the Cold War, East Germans referred to West Germany as “so-called West Germany.” Things can get this petty. And again, it’s preferable to a hot war.