Then-Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said that he decided to purchase the islands for the Japanese central government to prevent Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara from purchasing them with municipal funds. Noda feared that Ishihara, who was well known for nationalist grandstanding, would try to occupy the islands or find other ways to use them to provoke China.
时任首相野田佳彦称他决定由日中央政府购买这些小岛是为防止东京都知事石原慎太郎利用市属资金将其买下。野田害怕以民族主义著称的石原会占领这些岛屿，或找其他方式利用它们来刺激中国。