A local council in southern Japan voted Monday to rename an area including islands disputed with China and Taiwan, a move Beijing denounced as illegal and a “serious provocation”. The local assembly of Ishigaki city approved a plan to change the name of the area covering the Tokyo-controlled Senkaku Islands — known by Taiwan and China as the Diaoyus — from “Tonoshiro” to “Tonoshiro Senkaku”. Local media said another part of Ishigaki is also known as Tonoshiro, and the name change was cast as a bid to avoid confusion.
