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Japan, Taiwan activist visits fuel isle dispute

11 Comments

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11 Comments
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Japan, don't you have more important things to do? Say, like about 200km north east from Tokyo? Ring a bell?

6 ( +7 / -1 )

the two remained on the island briefly before returning to Ishigaki on Friday. ....................... they should have stayed there for good. Where's the famed J figthing spirit !!??

0 ( +2 / -2 )

If the Sengaku Islands belong to Japan, then what's the big fuss over an assemblyman from Ishigakijima? He has a right to be there if they are Japan's islands, doesn't he?

0 ( +2 / -2 )

Let the UN decide which islands belong to which countries ASAP

These never ending disputes/claims are getting on everyone's nerves!

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

What's the holdup by Tokyo guv to buy the islands? He needs to get the islands under Tokyo-to control ASAP so he can start to populate, develop, and rule the islands before the JP government gives it away to China.

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

The Japanese Coast Guard deployed a whole fleet of patrol vessels round the clock near the islands in the name of defending its territories / disputed rocks -- the considerable budget has to be topped up with repair charges on vessels ramping into each other in 'cat-&-mouse' chases. Unlike the Kurils / northern territories, these rocks are not suitable for stationing troops or else, an even larger budget will be needed for infrastructure...

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

I have no problem with the Ishigaki assemblyman visiting the islands. While it may not be Tokyo governor Ishihara's business, it very much is the business of the governments of the towns in the Yaeyama islands, whose fishermen have been making use of the waters around these islands for well over a century -- something which never bothered China or Taiwan back when it was just fish in the ocean and not the oil and gas under the ocean.

I'd much rather see a local leader sticking up for the livelihood of his constituents than that windbag Ishihara from his faraway desk in Tokyo, who will surely do more harm than good.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

@Marcelito - OK, your scenario would be pretty funny. Ishihara can go but only if he swims there himself!

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

The islands are part of Okinawa and part of Ishikawa City. It is not a "nearby" city but a part of it. The national government has against the constitution seized these islands from their rightful owners and have prevented officers of the rightful government from visiting.

Article 92: Regulations concerning organization and operations of local public entities shall be fixed by law in accordance with the principle of local autonomy. Article 94: Local public entities shall have the right to manage their property, affairs and administration and to enact their own regulations within law. Article 95: A special law, applicable only to one local public entity, cannot be enacted by the Diet without the consent of the majority of the voters of the local public entity concerned, obtained in accordance with law.

The above shows why the Okinawa only laws and the forced leasing of land are unconstitutional. This also applies to the forced leasing of land for American bases. Article 29 thus does not apply since the national government is violating articles 92 thru 95.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

Yuri, I think you've got a typo there. Ishikawa is on the main Okinawan island and is very far from the Senkakus. It's Ishigaki City that's right nearby.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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