Japan’s conservative government has ordered schools and textbook publishers to take a more strongly nationalist line when describing disputed island territories, prompting the latest acrimonious exchange with South Korea and China.

South Korea’s foreign ministry demanded Tokyo retract the teaching guidelines, which require that three groups of disputed islands – one administered by Seoul, another controlled by Russia and a third controlled?by?Japan?but claimed by China and Taiwan – be described as “integral parts of Japan’s territory”.

Seoul had previously denounced plans to change the guidelines as evidence of Japan’s “imperialistic ambitions” in the region. China’s foreign ministry expressed “grave concern” yesterday over the Japanese directive. The description mandated by the guidelines, which lay down a basic framework for classroom instruction and textbook writing, is in line with Japan’s official view of the island groups. But in seeking to control tightly the way teachers explain territorial disputes to students, the updated rules represent a stricter and more prescriptive approach than previous governments’.