• published: 2012-12-17
• views: 728
• author: IBTimesUK
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After Japan's LDP party won the Japanese elections by a landslide, the next Prime Minister if the country Shinzo Abe has vowed to take a hard line with China over current territorial disputes. Speaking after the victory Mr Abe said that Japan would "stop the challenge" from China over the disputed islands in the East China Sea. "We own and actively control the Senkaku islands, about this point there is no room to negotiate. In regards to this, when Japanese companies or people are harmed in China then this is indeed against international rules. It's necessary to tell both China and international society that we won't tolerate this." The territorial dispute over a rocky group of small, uninhabited islands known by the Japanese as the Senkaku and by the Chinese as the Diaoyu, escalated earlier this year as both nations refused to back down and practised military drills in the area. China's foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said she hoped under the new leadership relations between China and Japan could improve. "We think the most pressing issue is that Japan must show sincerity and take practical steps to appropriately deal with the present situation and work hard to resolve the issue and improve relations between the two countries." 58 year old Mr Abe becomes Japan's seventh Prime Minister in seven years, and has admitted he has a "heavy responsibility" on his shoulders to pull the world's third-largest economy out of recession. Written and Presented by Alfred Joyner