Japan’s broadcaster NHK slammed after its reporter says Diaoyu Islands belong to China

The male journalist, who has not been named but is reported to be in his 40s and who has been working for NHK radio since 2002, was delivering a broadcast in Mandarin on Monday when he deviated from the script, NHK said in a statement.

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“It is outrageous that something like this could happen at Japan’s national broadcaster,” said Hiromichi Moteki, the acting secretary general of the Tokyo-based Society for the Dissemination of Historical Fact.

“An incident like this weakens Japan’s sovereignty over the Senkakus because China can now say that this belief has been stated on Japan’s national broadcaster,” he told This Week in Asia. “[China] will use this to try to legitimise that claim.”

The government needs to condemn the broadcast and make it clear that it does not reflect the official position of the nation or NHK, while senior executives of the station “need to take responsibility” for the incident, he said.

The broadcaster issued a statement on Monday evening, apologising for the incident.

“It was inappropriate that remarks unrelated to a news topic were broadcast and we deeply apologise for that,” it said, adding that it is considering measures to stop anything similar happening in the future, such as pre-recording programmes.

It has also filed a formal complaint with the Chinese reporter and the staffing organisation through which he was employed by NHK. That company said on Monday that it will terminate the reporter’s contract.

But NHK’s actions failed to soothe public fury, with viewers and listeners bombarding its social media and