Japan is escalating tensions between itself and China and has set the countries' relations on a worse path.

The Japanese government struck a deal on Wednesday with the "owner" of China's Diaoyu Islands, agreeing to pay 2.05 billion yen ($26 million) for them.

China needs to take up the gauntlet with the use of workable countermeasures. Our protests - be they official or civil - have fallen on deaf ears in the Japanese government. Japan has been slowly trying to bring China's territory in the East China Sea under its wing.