(VNA) – Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda says Tokyo will not take the Senkaku/ Diaoyu Islands dispute to the International Court of Justice.

Uninhabited Senkaku islands (photo: panoramio.com)

Tokyo said that China and Japan are not officially involved in a territorial dispute. At a press briefing on Monday, Noda repeated that legally and historically, the Senkaku Islands are an integral part of Japanese territory. He said both China and Japan should proceed calmly. China has rejected Japan’s claim of sovereignty over the islands and says China has an indisputable right to these islands.  In another development, the Kyodo news agency reported that a Taiwanese ship was spotted on Monday in waters near the Senkaku/ DiaoYu Islands. The Japanese Coast Guard said one of its patrol vessels spotted the Taiwanese ship some 40 kilometers west of Uotsuri Island, the largest of the five main islands in the group. The coast guard patrol ship warned the Taiwanese ship by radio not to enter Japanese territorial waters. The Taiwanese ship said it was protecting Taiwanese fishermen in Taiwan's economic waters.