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The Japanese Government is close to reaching a deal to buy three Senkaku islands by the end of this month from their Japanese owners amid a territorial row with China, officials have said. “The state is currently leasing the islands, but the owner wants to sell them,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said. “We are discussing it from the standpoint of maintaining and managing the Senkaku Islands in a peaceful and stable manner,” Fujimura added. According to the Japan Times, the government’s purchase of the Uotsuri, Kitakojima and Minamikojima Islands , has irked China and Taiwan , which also claim the East China Sea territory. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda had revealed plans to buy the islands in July at a proposed price of about 2 billion yuan. According to the report, Senkaku Islands form an integral part of Japan ’s territory historically and under international law and has administered them since 1895.

Japan plans to buy disputed Senkaku islands