A Chinese scholar affiliated with the military told a group of non-partisan Japanese lawmakers that the group of islands at the center of dispute is a 'core interest' of Beijing.
The scholar from the China Institute for International Strategic Studies, headed by Lt. Gen. Qi Jianguo, deputy chief of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army, told the lawmakers in Beijing that the Senkaku Islands are 'within the range of its core interests'.
The disputed islands are controlled by Japan for more than 100 years in the East China Sea, the Japan Times reports.
According to the report, China has traditionally reserved the term 'core interests' for critically important issues of national sovereignty and territorial integrity.