Japan warns China against island spat 'attacks'

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda insisted on Wednesday there could be no compromise with China on the ownership of a disputed island chain and denounced attacks on Japanese interests.

Speaking to reporters at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in New York, Mr Noda said China had misunderstood the issues at stake and demanded an end to attacks on Japanese citizens and business interests in China by nationalist protesters.

"So far as the Senkaku islands are concerned, they are an integral part of our territory in the light of history and of international law," Mr Noda said, referring to an archipelago in the East China Sea that China knows as Diaoyu.

"It is very clear and there are no territorial issues as such. Therefore there cannot be any compromise that could mean any setback from this basic position. I have to make that very clear," he told reporters.