ANI

China has deployed two navy vessels after Japan announced it had ‘bought’ a group of islands disputed by the two countries in the East China Sea.

Reports from Chinese media said that two Chinese surveillance vessels had arrived in the region on Tuesday to ‘assert the country’s sovereignty’.

In a statement issued, after Japan confirmed plans to buy the islands, China’s foreign ministry warned Tokyo would have to ‘bear all serious consequences’.

“Long gone are the days when the Chinese nation was subject to bullying and humiliation from others. The Chinese government will not sit idly by watching its territorial sovereignty being infringed upon,” The Telegraph quoted the statement, as saying.

According to the report, the statement said Japan’s ‘so-called purchase’ was “a gross violation of China’s sovereignty over its own territory and is highly offensive to the 1.3 billion Chinese people.”

“It seriously tramples on historical facts and international jurisprudence. The Chinese government and people express firm opposition to and strong protest against the Japanese move,” the statement added describing the move as “totally illegal and invalid”.

On Monday’s China’s Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said his country would “never yield an inch” over the islands. On Tuesday morning Osamu Fujimura, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, confirmed his country had agreed to purchase the islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, from a Japanese family who owns them, the report said.

Media reports in Japan said the government would pay a total of 2.05 billion yen (16.4 million pounds) for the islands and that the transfer of their ownership would be completed by the end of this month.

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