国内英语新闻:Public outrage flares up again over Japan's extended detention of Chinese trawler captain

The book "Shun Feng Xiang Song" published during the reign of Yongle (1403-1424) contained records about the islands. The book was published more than 400 years before the Japanese discovery of the Diaoyu Islands by the Ryukyuan Koga Tatsushiro in 1884, on which Japan stakes its claim.

Since the book, many Chinese historical documents mentioned the islands.

The maps printed in Japan in 1783 and 1785 that marked out the boundary of the Ryukyu Kingdom show that the Diaoyu Islands belonged to China.

In 1879, Japan annexed the Ryukyu Islands, and in the same year, the Chinese and Japanese governments negotiated ownership of the islands. Representatives from both sides held that the Ryukyu Islands comprised of 36 islands, of which the Diaoyu Islands were not a part.

Before the outbreak of the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895 -- launched by Japan to annex Korea and invade China -- Japan had not raised any objections to Chinese sovereignty over the Diaoyu Islands.

In April 1895, the government of the Qing Dynasty of China (1644-1911), vanquished in the war, was forced to sign the humiliating Treaty of Shimonoseki, by which the Qing government ceded to Japan the entire island of Taiwan, its surrounding islands and the Penghu Islands. Since then, Japan has referred to the Diaoyu Islands as the Senkaku Islands. But prior to the war, Japanese maps had all called the islands by their Chinese name.

In 1945, Japan was defeated, and all international documents clearly stated that Taiwan and its surrounding islands were a part of Chinese territory.

"Japanese authorities detained the Chinese captain with the application of domestic Japanese law, which is an attempt to demonstrate Japan's administration of the Diaoyu Islands. But that cannot prove the islands are not a part of Chinese territory," said Prof. Guan Jianqiang, an international law expert at the Shanghai-based East China University of Political Science and Law.

"For instance, both the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation reaffirmed Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan and its surrounding islands, including the Diaoyu Islands," he said.

The number of Chinese tourists visiting Japan has plunged since the incident, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

"The number of individual travelers to Japan has dropped drastically, but we have yet to calculate the figure," said Zhang Wei, director of the Outbound Travel Department at the China International Travel Service.

"Most tour groups are still waiting. They haven't canceled their trips, except for a large tour group from the Pro-Health company," she said.

"We're closely watching the development of the issue and the measures the Chinese government takes," she added.

The Pro-Health (China) Co. Ltd., a Beijing-based company manufacturing health food and skincare products, has announced it has canceled a group tour to Japan next month for 10,000 of its employees.

"I firmly support the patriotic move. It's necessary to protest against Japan. Chinese people must be united," said company employee Zhang Li.

"I resolutely support the company's decision to safeguard the nation's dignity. The national interest should be placed above everything," said Ma Haixing, another employee.

"We shall never step back on issues of sovereignty," he added.