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© Thomson Reuters 2024.China coast guard confronts Japanese politicians in disputed East China Sea area
BEIJING/TOKYO©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.
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dbsaiya
Inada trying to poke the bear? Another air head LDP trying to become relevant. All of this really blew up when LDP Tokyo governor Ishihara said that he was going to buy the islands. Before that there was a tacit agreement between China and Japan (believe it was Zhou Enlai and Tanaka) not to make this an issue which is what China is referring to in the last two lines.
PTownsend
Reminds of Beijing's ally in Moscow and its expansionist territorial claims. Empires and empire-wannabes: leave the planet alone; stop trying to expand further, meet your own needs using resources within your existing territories. China and Russia are already huge countries covering vast areas of the planet, plus China has its Belt and Road, The Russian Federation its Eurasian Economic Union covering other areas beyond their respective recognized borders.
mu-da
Xi Jinping's agressive and predatory politics are inflaming tensions, not Japan and not only with Japan, but with the Philippines, Indonesia and Taiwan as well. What contracts and consensus means to communist China we have seen in Hong kong.
PTownsend
I wish this xould happen. Wouldn't it be nice to think dialogue and consultation could be effective when dealing with the CCP, but, the CCP have not shown they're particularly interested in managing contradictions unless they can have things their way. Look at Hong Kong and Tibet for examples.
sakurasuki
Need to wait for next business days during working hour, because this is Japan moushiwakenai
In ideal situation each side shouldn't provoke each other but what happened is, each side just try to provoke one another.
kibousha
XiXiPee: "keep quite and just do as we say ?".
People with guts: "No".
XiXiPee: "look, we're the victim here!! Such provocateur!!"
gogogo
There is no discussion, check with the rest of the world, the land belongs to Japan.
obladi
Why not just build a casino and let both countries enjoy the islands?
isabelle
Disputed by Chinese lies. Not international law, which is what counts.
A politician visiting the waters and islands of their own country is not "poking the bear." It is standard, fully legal behavior.
No, what is happening is that China is aggressively provoking just about all of its neighbors. Its neighbors, in contrast, are adhering to international law.
That is the difference.
elephant200
NIXON stole those islands to reward Japan in 1972. Actually Okinawa deserved independent instead returned to Japan, Okinawa had a kingdom, she was under occupation in Meiji Japan !
isabelle
Total nonsense.
Nixon could not steal what Japan had already owned since at least 1895.
Alan Harrison
Officials of Japan's foreign ministry were not immediately available for comment outside of working hours.
Fat lot good Japan's bureaucrats are.
WiseOneIn Kansai
China has no shame!!
OssanAmerica
China continues to bully and intimidate all neighbors in an undisguised effort to take full control of the East and South China Seas.
The Senkakus have been Japanese territory since 1895 and even appeared as such on Chinese maps in the 1960s.
If China believes it has a legimate claim all they have to do is bring a claim begore the ICJ. But they won't because they don't recognize international rulings which involve their sovereignty.
TaiwanIsNotChina
This wouldn't be a problem if they built that lighthouse or pitched that tent on the island.
itsonlyrocknroll
I have no issue at all with former Defense Minister Tomomi Inada stamping on the toes and getting right up the hooter of the Government of China.
There is no one better qualified than Tomomi Inada, the Lady is relentless.
Agent_Neo
We must never take a soft attitude towards the Chinese Communist Party. They are hyenas, bent on territorial disputes with countries such as Japan, Taiwan, the Philippines, Myanmar, and India.
Japan's defense spending is increasing because of the presence of hostile countries in its vicinity, such as China, Russia, North Korea, and South Korea.
Discussions will never solve the problem.
Desert Tortoise
If you are a civil servant you don't make public statements on matters of considerable international import, things can lead to conflict, unless those words have been cleared by the highest levels of your organization and their legal teams. A reporter can't just poke a microphone in front of a civil servant and expect answers. A smart civil servant is going to let their leadership answer those questions.
Hiro S Nobumasa
Japan and China should behave and return those isles to the rights owner , Ilan county of the democratic Taiwan.
Hiro S Nobumasa
Japan and China should behave and return those isles to the rightful owner , Ilan county of the democratic Taiwan.
Zaphod
Ptownsend
I would agree with that, but you should take that message to the US, the current biggest empire builder in the world.
Richard Burgan
Right now Japan has sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands. There is plenty of history to back that up. Only recently has China sought, to access these islands, probably due to the possibility there are oil or mineral reserves in the area. If Japan wants to keep these islands they must immediately establish permanent installations on the islands. Certainly no one wants to live there, all that's needed is a communications station, air traffic radar, weather station, tide gage, or other research facility. Japan needs to regularly visit and maintain the facilities to keep its claim. Once this presence is established, China would need to take the islands by force (aka: start a war) to displace Japan. However, if Japan doesn't do this China will, and Japan will have to take the islands by force (aka: start a war). As a "pacifist country" Japan is not likely to start a war without several years of study and debate. Japan had better act if it wants to keep the Senkaku's!
Zaphod
isabelle
"Owned" is a nice euphemism for violent military annexation. That said, if you go back enough in history, every place can be disputed, so I am in favour of leaving well enough alone.
starpunk
Warner Bros. Looney Toons cartoon:
China is the big barking dog, growling and barking but with no bite. Just wants to scare whoever's there. Showing off. 'I'm BAAAAAADDDDD!!!!!'. 'Rawr rawr-rawtr-rawr! Rawr rawr-rawtr-rawr! Rawr rawr-rawtr-rawr! '
And Japan has the role of Foghorn Leghorn and says, 'Ahhhhhhhh, shedduupppp!!!!' (WHOPP!!!)
Another day in the world of 'international diplomacy' in the Far East.
isabelle
"Violent military annexation" is a very odd (completely inaccurate) way of saying "surveyed them and found them to be terra nullius."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senkaku_Islands_dispute
Japan argues that it surveyed the islands in the late 19th century and found them to be terra nullius (Latin: land belonging to no one); subsequently, China acquiesced to Japanese sovereignty until the 1970s.
TheRegulator
These islands were supposed to be returned to China after WW2 by rulings made at the Cairo and Potsdam declarations by the Allies.
isabelle
Ah, the old CCP propaganda line. It is patently false, and anyone who has read the history knows that.
1) The Potsdam Declaration says that Japanese sovereignty includes "such minor islands as we determine," and the allies determined the Senkakus to be Japanese in the Treaty of San Francisco. The US' reversion of Okinawa to Japan in 1972 included the Senkakus.
2) The Cairo Declaration doesn't even mention the Senkakus. It does mention "territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese," but Japan didn't steal the Senkakus from China, so this is irrelevant.
3) The Senkakus didn't even come up in the 1952 peace treaty between ROC and Japan, so we must assume that they were not an issue for the ROC.
4) China only started asserting its (usual, spurious) claims in the 1970s when the region's natural resources became an issue.
https://www.nippon.com/en/in-depth/d00937/
deanzaZZR
So curious as the USA takes no position on the sovereignty of Senkaku/Diaoyu. Clearly it is a regional matter for Japan and China to negotiate.
robert maes
Under Xi, China is completely untrustworthy, and should not be allowed to continue its aggression in the Pacific. It must be stopped. If Japan says these islands are theirs it must stop weening like a baby and pull Papa USA sleeves for help.
But grow a pair and stand up for itself. Like Taiwan does and China will redraw. A coordinated Assertive action with the Philippines, South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan and Japan and China will run. As they always do.
isabelle
Except there's nothing to negotiate. The Senkakus are Japanese, and China has zero claim to them.
If China has a problem with this it can appeal to international arbitration. But it won't do that, as that would highlight its spurious claims, aggression, and illegality elsewhere, like the South China Sea.
So, the Chinese government resorts to the only tactic it knows: lies, threats, and aggression.
deanzaZZR
Japan currently "administers" the islands because the USA controlled the islands from 1945-1974 and used the islands as a bombing range. That's something for Japan to be proud of for sure.
I appreciate bonito flakes as much as the next miso soup lover but that creates as much sovereignty as Chinese fishermen who visited and stayed on the islands (釣魚 certainly you understand it, right?) centuries before Japanese imperialist showed. up.
isabelle
No, because they returned to their rightful owner: Japan.
If China is so confident then it should, as I say, take the case to arbitration.
We would then see how its "historical claims" (CCP fantasies) hold up.
voiceofokinawa
It's truly regrettable that such an incident has occurred. But Chins at least seems to be ready for consultations with Japan over the sovereignty of the Senkakus/Diaoyudaos.
I want the Japanese side not to simply say that the Senkakus are Japan's territories historically and under international law.
Dialog is most needed at this critical moment, either officially or through private channels.
deanzaZZR
Centuries of use as a fishing base vs. 15 years as a bonito flakes facility that went bankrupt. Neighbors should talk. Yankees should walk.
voiceofokinawa
It's truly regrettable that such an incident has occurred. But Chins at least seems to be ready for consultations with Japan over the sovereignty of the Senkakus/Diaoyudaos.
I want the Japanese side not to reject China’s offer across the board and simply say that the Senkakus are Japan's territories historically and under international law.
Dialog is most needed at this critical moment either officially or through private channels.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Is part of that dialog not shamelessly going ahead with drilling like China is doing?
TaiwanIsNotChina
Curious how you say the US takes no position but that the US should but out. Is it because China needs to unleash its full bullying power?
isabelle
Then test this alleged "fact" (CCP fantasy) in a formal setting, at arbitration.
China should respect international law. But it won't.
Why not? The Senkakus are Japan's territories historically and under international law.
If someone were to suddenly lay a claim to Beijing -- as China did with the Senkakus in the 1970s -- China would, quite rightly, refuse to enter "consultations."
Peter14
South Korea is not hostile to Japan, though some in Japan think it is.
The stated US position is the islands are Japanese territory and will be defended as part of Japan if they are invaded. They dont need to repeat it with every Chinese incursion, it is on record.
Really, what territory is being targeted to be made US sovereign territory? Any nations recently turned into US states since WWII? I am not aware of any empire building or plans for it. Unless you refer to Trumps attempt to purchase Greenland?
China is reviled in the region and it only gets worse as they trespass into Japanese waters, Philippines waters and elsewhere in the waters south and east of China, provoking trouble and conflict wherever they go.
quercetum
So why did Japan have to give Taiwan to the Republic of China?
isabelle
It never did. Japan only renounced its claim.
And the Senkakus aren't Taiwan, so it's irrelevant to the argument anyway.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_of_San_Francisco#Fate_of_Taiwan_and_other_Japanese_overseas_territories
...Japan has renounced all right, title, and claim to Taiwan (Formosa) and Penghu (the Pescadores) as well as the Spratley Islands and the Paracel Islands.[33] However, this treaty does not include any wording saying that Japan recognizes that the territorial sovereignty of Taiwan was transferred to the Republic of China.
theFu
China should seek a ruling from an international court on all the islands/surface features they claim, then live with the results. Bring in all the other claimants. Everybody makes their cases and the ownership of every one could be solved this year. No more need for coast guards threatening other ships or for illegal fishing by multiple countries to happen nearby.
That's what an adult would do. But there seem to be lots of children involved. "mine, mine, mine" regardless of facts. They all need a nap and a diaper change, it seems. Then the court can make a good decision and these issues would all be settled for once.
voiceofokinawa
Isabelle,
If someone were to suddenly lay a claim to Beijing -- as China did with the Senkakus in the 1970s -- China would, quite rightly, refuse to enter "consultations.
Beijing is a clear-cut case, but Senkaku is not. It's a gray-zone case. That's why dialog is most needed to clarify and solve the problem.
gogogo
The US also supports Japan and state the islands belong to Japan, as does the rest of the world, except China.
Snefruscousin
It's probably a good thing that someone puts the agenda in the media regularly. China wants and needs quietness around all of its appropriation efforts. The Chinese message for the future is clear: We take what we want and any opposition to that is bad and inappropriate behavior directed by the US. An interesting question is if no one opposed - where would it stop? Hawaii? Mexico? Turkey? The time for peace has past and it is all about confrontation in the future.