CHINA-EXTERNAL: JAPAN
On July 31, Japan named five uninhabited islands and added them to a disputed chain of 158 uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. The announcement is in preparation to Japan stepping up protection and claims over border islands and the waters around them. The Japan government’s maritime policy department published a list of all of the names on its website that day. The five new Senkaku islets are: Nantokojima, Nanseikojima and Higashikojima, near Minamikojima Island, and Seihokuseikojima and another islet also named Nantokojima, near Kubashima. All are now part of the Senkakus. Japan has said the names will be used in new maps. The islets are within Japan’s established exclusive economic zone and will not change maritime boundaries.
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