politics

China, Japan resume talks over maritime issues

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8 Comments
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Nice to see that these countries are realizing that they are hurting themselves by pandering to their right-wingers. The right-wingers have proven that they are too stupid to be able to see what is best for their country.

2 ( +5 / -3 )

@sfjp330 I think you underestimate how much the US does not want to be seen ceding land, for any justification, to a non-democracy. Look at the furor over the Ukrainian situation when last year it was fully in Moscow's orbit. The west is effectively angry it didn't get 100% of Ukraine, rather than just 90%, and I think it is understandable.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

scipantheistSep. 25, 2014 - 08:10AM JST Look at the furor over the Ukrainian situation when last year it was fully in Moscow's orbit. The west is effectively angry it didn't get 100% of Ukraine, rather than just 90%, and I think it is understandable.

But Ukraine is not a member of NATO, which makes the issue of the alliance's "collective defense" posture (Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty) unclear. It's a problem for NATO. But in an alternative situation, the problem would be very different. That's because Ukraine would already be a NATO member, with its 2008 application to join the military alliance winning acceptance. Ukraine's NATO application is worth revisiting, and not just to ponder theoretical "what if" scenarios. The application and the events that followed reveal a number of factors that are relevant to Ukraine's ongoing crisis.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

It should be very interesting for bothh countries to identify what common intresst they posses and build a new relation upon this commonn intresst. East asians are the only civilations that realy can challenges the west so what are they waiting for?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Both countries talking to each other is good. Let's hope Abe doesn't suddenly decides to visit Yasukuni or irk China by buying new warships for Vietnam or the Philippines. The US already has too much in her hands with Ukraine and Iraq and Syria and Afghanistan can flare up anytime. She has no time for some rocks for now and Abe in his heart knows that!

0 ( +0 / -0 )

@scipantheist ... ceding land

I am glad you brought up the comparison with Ukraine, because the of difference between Ukraine, which is a large land area home to millions for eons, and the Senkakus, which is a minuscule land area not populated never more than a temporary outpost to anybody but which functions as a claim marker for possibly significant ocean resources.

Resources can afford to be judged from a business point of view; human dwelling land cannot be judged only from a business point of view, and the more people dwell there the truer this becomes.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Alright very good, Asian2014. Let's hope China can go a few days without badmouthing Japan as well. Peace requires two participants.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

There is nothing remarkable about the recent escalation Senkaku/Daioyu islands and overlap in ADIZ dispute. One gets the impression that the Japanese and Chinese diplomats on both sides are merely going through the motions. One side reiterates its decades-old position, and the other is obligated to respond, then it's back to business as usual. Diplomats are known for their limitless patience. Everybody knows that Japan will never relinquish the islands, which China claims as its territory and the demand will possibly escalate into military confrontation around the islands.

Time will tell who was right. For now, the U.S. is probably regretting that it let itself get dragged into this conflict in the first place. U.S. does not deny that its goal was to provoke a never-ending Chinese-Japanese dispute while protecting Japan with its military bases. These "principled and consistent" positions dating many decades back look out of place in a today's world. The U.S. probably would have preferred to forget about consistency this time, as its support for Japan only serves to bring China and Russia closer together, but U.S. just could not abandon a position it has held for many decades.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

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