May 28 10:30 AM US/Eastern
TOKYO, May 28 (AP) - (Kyodo) — Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on Friday said "there is no dispute" about Japan's sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, distancing himself from comments by Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama the previous day in which he called for Japan and China to discuss the sovereignty of the islands.
Hatoyama said during a national governors' meeting Thursday, "Japan and China should thoroughly discuss the sovereignty (of the islands) and come up with a conclusion."
Although Okada said he did not know what message Hatoyama had meant to convey, he said the comments should be corrected at some point.
Okada's move came amid growing concern within Hatoyama's government that the comments could give China the "wrong message," just ahead of Hatoyama's meeting with his Chinese counterpart Wen Jiabao on Monday.
Tokyo maintains that the Senkaku Islands, located halfway between Okinawa Prefecture and Taiwan, belong to Japan, while Beijing has claimed them since around 1970.
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