I'm not talking about Japanese homeland,China doesn't have the ability or viability of invading Japan,at least for now and some decades to come.
The concerned islands are legally owned by the Japanese gov who bought it to prevent a tokyo hyper rightwing gov from purchasing it,hence it's Japanese controlled,and by sending navy to contest that only portrays China like a lawless thug, the Chinese claim has no historical or current international legal basis anymore. Any Chinese contest over islands owned legally and historically by Japan ,leaves no room for Chinese to be seen as a fair agent in the SCS. Even if Japan didn't had rights legally or historically(which they do) China shouldn't have been so unempathetic in antagonizing a nation over irrelevant rocks,the geopolitical significance of Japan is way more important,if Japan was made an ally instead of an enemy,China would have no reason to bother who controls anything between China and Japan,
China basically donated vast swaths of lands so generously to Pakistan,Russia ,Afghanistan but willingly antagonistic to Japan over nationalistic politics for politicians' personal interest.
Either Chinese side is misguided in their claim due to heavy anti-Japanese ideology or they are willingly acting like this to stroke nationalism and capture islands using superior numbers,that's still very wrong and deserve condemnation as any self serving wrong policy by any other gov.
China may have deserved sympathy in the war against Japanese side,(though I personally don't think Chiang Kai sek's side deserve any sympathy.)but this isn't 1936,in 2021,China has no rights in antagonizing people and who were not even born back in 1936 for their ancestor's actions. It's like harassing kids of criminals who themselves have committed no crime on their own,under state sponsored anti japanese propaganda lens,Chinese seek to harras the very kids ,and in such situation the criminal isn't the kid.The situation is like this now.
China shouldn't be so insensitive and antagonistic to a nation which is so important and so powerful,China can be so generous to Pakistan ,why not try a bit toward Japan,the dividend would be way more greater in geopolitical terms.
"legally" under japanese law, not international or chinese law. and this isn't the 1800s, japanese domestics law dont mean shit to china. or would you find it acceptable if my father(who don't legally own your house) "sold" your house to me, by your logic you should move out immediately since the house belongs to me now.
and "historically" yea i already told you it was stolen through war. specifically the first sino-Japanese war as a part of japanese imperial expansion that saw millions murdered. the island were historically used by china long before japan took them in war.
your "legally" and "historically" is one sided and essentially boils down to "might is right but only when the side i like is more powerful"
heck if we go by your argument, legally, in chinese law it belongs to china, and historically we and everyone else admits chinese use through and around the island well before japan ever claimed it.
so japan should stop claiming what is legally and historically chinese.
moreover you state that chinese claims somehow makes it not a fair agent in the SCS. yet you still have not referenced Japan's own claims on both islands it stole from china in war, but also islands russia took from them in war. so which is it? taking land in war is okay or not? from the Japanese perspective? can they at least be consistent? while china has a clear and consistent policy, its land claims are fully based on historical claims, stemming from the RoC(which has nearly the same claims as PRC) and from the Qing dynasty before that. exemption are the lands it no longer claims due to negotiations.
see that? negotiations, yes china has fully settled almost all land its borders though negotiation, except for india and its puppet of bhutan. its as fair as a nation could be about its land claims. japan does not wish to negotiate, they want the whole thing just like india does not wish to negotiate they want the whole thing based on well.... nothing except imperial ambitions. unfortunately for them, this is a china of 2021 not 1895.
and im not sure where you got your information (sounds like they're from a right wing Japanese school), but china did not "donate" any land to anyone. it negotiated borders with pakistan, getting some of its claims and relinquishing other claims, you know, being fair as you alluded to earlier.
it negotiated borders with russia, with each getting about half the claims.
and why the hell do you think china should be generous to japan? japan has never been generous to china, it has always been antagonistic to china. how about japan show good will by giving up the claims to chinese islands and not interfering in the chinese civil war. how about japan clear up its past by not electing officials who supposedly" officially" acknowledge japanese war crime in ww2, yet consistently deny them all the time in public. japanese people today may not have been the ones to commit the crime personally, but they continue to make claims based on those crimes and still makes noises about taking side in a potential taiwan scenario that does not involve them whatsoever unless they choose to be involved. literally talking about supporting one side of a civil war and you you think china(the side they will not be supporting) should be "generous" to them? Do you also remind your robber that you have a cell phone too after they take your wallet?
and lastly. even if china gave up all its disputes with japan and left taiwan alone. japan would STILL be antagonistic to china. Japan is essentially an occupied country, it does what the us dictates as far as foreign policy is concerned. if the us doesn't allow it, Japan will never have good relations with china so long as it still houses us troops and bases. why the hell should china show good will to the dog, when it should really be talking to the owner.