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Japan, China test each other's diplomatic resolve

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34 Comments
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Plainly, simply, China is dangerous. Her nationalism, her totalitarian rulers and her new found wealth make her all the more dangerous. Japan had better get serious about taking a strong role in Asia, or China will sweep Japan aside.

Japan had also better keep ties with the US fresh and happy. Japan may one day need our help more than the few right wingers here in Japan can expect.

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Let's see. Repairs for a boat, no money for loss of life. Please subtract it from the 1.2 billion Japan gives in foreign aid each year. Ask Kan et al why the difference is paid when Japan has its own needs.

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Just a decade ago the democratic nations of the world welcomed China's entry into world trade believing that economic improvement and a better standard of living for the Chinese would result in a demand and shift towards democracy. Instead the Chinese government have become even more authoritarian, and have gone on a military buildup and has only become a bigger threat to her neighbors. It's really time to pull the plug on the Frankenstein monster.

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America has a lot of needy too, but they give away so much to other countries.

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The title of this article is incorrect. China has not engaged in any "diplomacy", just chest pounding.

Well, China is the creation of the US, so the US should put up or shut up.

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“At this point, the ball is now in China’s court,” said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku.

Uh, no, not really. China's economic clout maintains pressure on Japan and others with regional interests. The proverbial ball remains in Japan's court as long as China doesn't value its own diplomatic reputation.

@shinjukuboy is correct. China is not engaging in real diplomacy as long as it can keep Japan on her heels. Kan's own call for compensation is mere posturing.

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Be fair. What is the ground to say China is dangerous? At least, the fact is China never invaded Japan and Japan did. (I don’t mean Japan is going to invade China )

In the North Korea issue, China is trying its best to contain North Korea. If people read news regularly, they could read the news that even the past US president has thanked China for that.

The countries in Asia should be friendly to each other and cooperate in resolving the problem in Asia. Do we really want to invite US warships to help fighting a nuclear war with North Korea in Asia? Who is going to suffer?

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Its time for China to free the 4 Japanese captives.This patrol boats incidents must be viewed with extra caution. Japan do not allow Japanese patrol boats near Chinese patrol boats. If Japan is going to have patrol boats make sure you have cameras on them. Yes, video images could often deter an opponent.Plus having video images is the best method of achieving diplomatic success with out having to engage in any diplomatic crisis. Video proof could silence the critics and provide Diplomatic cover. Make sure those patrol boats have video cameras.

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I guess the Japanese blunder on this one. They open up a Pandora box that should not be opened in the 1st place. Anyhow, can't blame them, all Democratic system has a major flaw. In order to get elected, the Japanese politician plays up the nationalist and territorial sentiment against the Chinese and Russian during their last election. Now, they have won the election but has put themselves in a corner. The Japanese has no room to move but to apologize or damned their economy. Like its last Prime Minister, he played on the Okinawa sentiment against the US. This Prime Minister will have to step downed. Like the US, the Chinese will not give in. Maybe the world should be better off with democratic system as it only makes the politician to lie to the voters. Just look at the US today, in order to get elected, the Americans politician would lie to its voters and when in power, they serve the lobbyist instead. The Japanese would be better serve if they have follow the Pre-WWII political system. At the very least, it is the Japanese way.

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I think it is unwise (or even stupid) for both sides to continue the conflict. As a Hong Kong Chinese, I have no prejudice against US. However, I don't understand why Japan often acts like a subordinate country of US.

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efisher: "At least, the fact is China never invaded Japan and Japan did"

We have had this discussion before that when you and the rest of the pro-China can't come up with a serious response to something you bring up the war! (though you did it much more subtly this time)

This is about now and not the past, it is about how civilized countries conduct diplomatic relations it is not about Japan attacking China over 60 years ago or China attacking Tibet, Vietnam, etc...

So please lets stay on subject, and that is that in all of this Japan and the world have been trying to ask China to deal with it's neighbors in a less " Do as I say or else" manor!

China has and is still using 19th century Gunboat diplomacy when the rest of the world has move on to the 21st century.

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Anti-China and anti-Japan campaign start again and again on both sides. And it's always a plausible-faced fisher in troubled waters who instigates from behind and waits to see if he can let them do a proxy war for his ultimate end. Reject such nonsense.

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efisher:

You keep bringing up the fact that you are a Hong Kong Chinese.

My question is simple and in no way meant as an attack or insult.

You seem to be very Pro-China and patriotic but do you like a very large portion of native Hong Kong people carry a Canadian passport Just in case things go wrong with China?

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You keep bringing up the fact that you are a Hong Kong Chinese.

That itself puts the seed of doubt in the minds of the readers.

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I think in HK, they call it blowing water!

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And what about Japan's economic clout? At last count Japan was one of China's biggest trade partners, who will surely stop buying if there are doubts about China's political intentions. Bad move on Wen's part to try to bully it's best customers, but I suppose Communists are not too big on customer service. It could take some time for them to learn the principals of living in the world-wide market economy, and in the meantime, Wen may not be a very good choice for poster-boy of the Chinese brand.

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The Chinese suffer from the dillusion that they can brake the Japanese economy. That is rediculous. The value of the yen has appreciated against the dollar by 350% since 1980, and this did not ruin the economy (last year the US had the largest trade deficit with Japan in history). Japan can go elsewhere, and in a globalized economy, there are lots of places to go.

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A lot of things happening in this part of the world. The NK anchor woman just made my life worth living with her joyous announcement of Kim Jong Wun's succession to the throne? Futile attempt by China to make a noise about nothing.The show is over for China.

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" Logistic companies said China has stepped up customs inspections of goods shipped to and from Japan"

This part of China's pressure tactics seems to be related to the fact that China is under the impression that they control the trade in what are referred to as "rare earth" minerals, but much of that control does not come from Chinese mining but from the fact that China has signed deals with other countries for the rights to these minerals.

China may be in for a big shock, most of the places they have signed contract with have dubious records and as many USA companies found out in the past these places can and will change their minds if they feel they can do better or if the government changes and considers the contracts unfair.

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A story from a friend in China. She guesses that the reason for the delays due to custom inspections is that Chinese are not boycotting Japanese goods, and this is the only way to reduce their sales to hurt Japan. Her problem is that it is also hurting her Chinese company, which needs Japanese goods. I'm getting the impression that this issue is not of any interest to ordinary Chinese. So don't form your impression of ordinary Chinese by what you see here.

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China alone can not break any major nation's economy, Japan's or otherwise. However, China seems to be ignoring the fact that all the major nations combined CAN break China's economy.

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China, when dropped, breaks.

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@OssanAmerica: all the major nations combined could isolate China and send them back to reliance on their own resources and markets, which would vastly change their economy - not necessarily "break" it.

Having said that, getting all the major nations to agree on anything of such magnitude is a pipe dream. The Russians would gleefully step right in, just to poke a finger in the collective eyes of the west. And France would probably join in just because they're French.

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Problems of inconsistancy in the behavior of the Chinese Government is going to be a major problem for Japanese companies in China. If another major incident occurs between Japan and China, there is a possiblity of China freezing all bank assets, meaning any funds cannot be transfered between China to Japan. The Chinese Govenmenet policy toward Japanese companies, such as a delay in customs is a start of revenge. This should never occurred in a complex industrial society. Any foreign companies operating in China should never walk on thin lines. U.S., Australia, and European Commonwealth is watching the actions of China very carefully. Maybe, some of the investments in China has to be gradually pulled out and invest into places like Vietnam and other countries. The instability of Chinese Govenment toward Japan makes future bleak for Japanese companies.

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It appears that JT has implemented biased censorship on this forum. Any attempt to post a link to sites, including established news sites that contain anything even remotely negative about China is blocked with:

"Your comment was not posted because it contains potentially offensive content.Please edit and try again."

Moderator: This is to prevent spammers from China which have been hammering the site in recent weeks.

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Communists can only be trusted as far as you can throw them, right??

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“It is a bilateral problem, but it has multilateral implications,” said Kingston. “Ultimately, it’s about who gets to call the shots in Asia—the U.S. or China?”**Ok, so the USA, the biggest and baddest dude on the block is going to let upstart China try to rule the Pacific Ocean?? Yeah, right, in the communist dreams of Beijing.

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China is having a temper tantrum. So what will happen if they use military force against Japan? Well they will lose, lets see there is Vietnam, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. Then add in the United States, my guess there will be a change of government if China tries something stupid. This island dispute involves more than just Japan.

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Problems of inconsistancy in the behavior of the Chinese Government is going to be a major problem for Japanese companies in China.

I submit to you that inconsistencies in Governments breed mistrust in populations such as civilians as well as marketplaces. Propaganda may be a good tool to whip up nationalist fervor, but it will only "sell" to those sharing you nationalism. The Americans have the same problem, too much (Christian) "God bless America" that they got attacked on 9/11. The Japanese had successfully filtered out national pride from their international product line for many years and became a world power economically, and it would be a mistake to start blowing that trumpet now.

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In the end, I'm glad to hear that ordinary Chinese are just going about their lives. A friend says visit the north Beijing branch of the Japanese department store Ito Yokado, called 南直門店 (I don't know the pronunciation), and you'll see it is full of consumers.

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In the end, nationalists will bow low to money, and this is a good thing. Money becomes the voice of reason and rationality.

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Can Japan afford to do without China’s market and its resources? Japan has learned two “modernization tricks” from the West: The first is to centralize, mobilize and militarize in order to colonize--------this ended with two nuclear bombs dropped on its land. This was the past, and it has created todays China with nuclear weapons. The second is to target overseas trade with a foreign market with a population as large as possible, and resources as vast as possible. This was European Power’s way of expansion, and it is what Japan is doing right now. To put it nicely, Japan is the direct and primary beneficiary from “the Globalization.” Now, can Japan afford not to ?

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mayabru's statement can be made more severe: the whole purpose of Japanese modernization was to prevent from being taken over by European imperialists. They chose Britian as a model. You remember: "the sun never sets on the British Empire". In this respect, the Japanese have been very successful. Even today, foreigners always complain about how difficult it is to walk off with Japan's wealth, but that, after all, is the whole point. "Globalization" is just another word for "neo-imperialism". China: be careful of "globalization", or you may end up like you were in the 18th and 19th centuries.

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Japan Wins!!!!

Today, in his National Foundation Day speech, Premier Wen actually had to explicitly say that China is not a threat to anyone. I guess he finally understood what the Japanese have always understood: how the world perceives the situation. China has been condemned universally. China may be right about the islands or the company employees in restricted military area, but that does not matter. China's reaction is what the world focussed on: it was from the 19th century, not the 21st century. China made itself look scary

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