Ishihara, 79, has begun talks to purchase Uotsurijima, Kitakojima and Minamikojima, all in the Senkaku island chain around 140 kilometers (87 miles) north of Japan’s Ishigaki Island, between Taiwan and Okinawa. He would use funds from the municipal budget to buy the real estate from a Japanese citizen, spokesman Motoyuki Nakazawa said, citing comments Ishihara made in a speech in Washington April 16.

Asia’s two biggest economies dispute the sovereignty of the uninhabited islands, known as Diaoyu in Chinese, underlined by a 2010 collision between a Chinese fishing trawler and two Japanese Coast Guard vessels in nearby waters. Control over the area would give the holder rights to undersea natural gas and oil fields, and the two countries have yet to implement a 2008 agreement to jointly develop them.

No one was immediately available to comment at the Chinese embassy in Tokyo. China has claimed the islands since 1971.

Ishihara is seeking to reach a formal agreement with the owner of the lands by the end of December after receiving the approval of the metropolitan assembly, Ishihara said at a symposium at Heritage Foundation in Washington, according to Nakazawa, who attended the conference.

In his remarks, Ishihara vowed that Tokyo would protect the Senkaku isles and he noted the wealth of fisheries in the surrounding seas, Nakazawa said. The governor will discuss details after coming back to Tokyo on April 19, he said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Takahiko Hyuga in Tokyo at thyuga@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chitra Somayaji at csomayaji@bloomberg.net

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-17/tokyo-s-ishihara-seeks-to-buy-senkaku-islands-claimed-by-china.html

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