By Li Hongmei
Japanese education chiefs will for the first time instruct schools to teach children that islands disputed with China and South Korea belong unequivocally to Tokyo, the government said Tuesday.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the Chinese government was "severely concerned" and had launched "solemn representations."
"We want to stress that the Diaoyu islands and their affiliated islands have been China's inherent territory since ancient times," she said at a regular press briefing.
The announcement also prompted anger in Seoul, which called in the Japanese ambassador and warned of "reciprocal countermeasures" if the changes are not withdrawn immediately.
Revised teachers' manuals for junior and senior high schools will be issued to education boards across the nation, a Japanese education ministry official said.
The move comes as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has stirred controversy with his unabashed militarism mania, including a visit to a war shrine widely viewed by neighboring countries as a symbol of Tokyo's wartime aggression.
Some observers say the disputed islands represent a key fault line for the region and could be the spark for an armed conflict.