politics

Japan, France seek to deepen security ties amid China's rise

30 Comments
By MARI YAMAGUCHI

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30 Comments
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Japan is particularly concerned about Chinese military activity in waters surrounding the Japanese-controlled Senkaku islands

I think the CCP has higher ambitions, likewise Russia in Ukraine. I think that the one most concerning is Taiwan, though I must admit that I'm too young to evaluate international politics in depth.

What I can say, from reading and reading about the protests, is that China poses a risk to human rights worldwide. Let's not turn the page on the 47 activists in Hong Kong charged with serious crimes of national security law.

In every alliance regarding China, it's important to highlight human rights.

PS: Meanwhile, the IOC celebrating sports in Beijing. Orwellian world.

10 ( +17 / -7 )

China is doing an outstanding job at bringing nations together.....against China. One wonders how long before China realizes that it will not get its way when it alienates most of the free world.

12 ( +20 / -8 )

I wonder when china will make an official apology and of course compensation in US dollars for mess the CCP did to around the world.

9 ( +17 / -8 )

The whole isolate China thing is such a big mistake that started when Trump lost confidence in the US's ability to compete with China. China is the future and the US is the past. Recognize this and join China in China's technology and economic rise, and Japan and other countries will rise too. And it is the only way to have power to influence China.

-16 ( +7 / -23 )

I wonder when china will make an official apology and of course compensation in US dollars for mess the CCP did to around the world.

Don't hold your breath. North East Asians have too much pride. Just look at Japan. Lip service apologies, token compensation and victim blaming is all that the world will get.

-9 ( +9 / -18 )

@gokai

You are 100% right but I think it is a big ask for a group of nations that are so used to being the dominant force that can do whatever they want with the world to take a back seat.

The old guard superpowers would sooner engage in another Cold War than cede any ground willingly.

-8 ( +6 / -14 )

The French are being extra aggressive towards marketing its defense equipment since it lost out on the Australian sub deal.

5 ( +8 / -3 )

The French, protecting the last vestiges of its colonial empire.

The West funded the rise of China by outsourcing production, manufacture, and assembly. Japan also a participant.

China is the economic powerhouse for most of the world. The USA, as the self-anointed, indispensable nation formulates an Asian Pivot to contain China via military means, ignoring its own economic dependence on China.

The big, fat dream, to open the Chinese market and its potential billion plus customers to exploitation by the West and its partners and allies. Instead, China will dominate the world thru economic means while the failing American Empire fades - unless it commits a total act of madness and goes to war with China. The biggest threat to peace is not China, but the USA.

-8 ( +8 / -16 )

The USA, as the self-anointed, indispensable nation formulates an Asian Pivot to contain China via military means, ignoring its own economic dependence on China.

if and when the shizen hits the fan, america can sustain itself and has everything it needs within its own lands--it just needs to reorient itself. it also has flourishing alliances around the world. china, on the other hand...

One wonders how long before China realizes that it will not get its way when it alienates most of the free world.

yus. when will china realize that it is so dependent on the rest of the world to buy its cheap plastic crap? if things get hot, india just needs to choke oil shipped through its waters from hormuz, and china's industry will ground to a halt in weeks. couple that with dwindling food imports, and china will have a starving populace within 3 months after they eat their way through the grain stores they are building up. the BRI was meant to counter this, but the world woke up and had enough of china's crap. covid just accelerated that movement. china doesn't realize what a precarious situation they are in--much worse than japan in 1941 because its huge middle and upper class have grown used to iPhones, benzs, LV bags and countless other modern luxuries.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

Don't forget that China is Japan's largest trading partner. Don't expect anything real to happen.

0 ( +6 / -6 )

The whole world should be trying to get together to oppose China and the other countries that are still trying to impose themselves over the world.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

The British and all its allies have bin trying to stifle china's rise since the opium war and look how not successful that's worked out.

Japan tried to stifle korea and china.

China is going to keep rising and the new economic zone with Russia .

They don't need the USA business and the USA is so far in debt to china its ridiculous.

Japan is kind of doing a delicate juggling balancing act and trying not to reveal its own hidden agendas.

Always dragging their feet on purpose.

USA spread way too thin to be taken seriously and especially after trumps fooled attempt at presidency.

-5 ( +4 / -9 )

China wont take "no" as an answer and thats never going to change.

-1 ( +6 / -7 )

China has insisted on its territorial rights and criticized the “free and open Indo-Pacific” vision as an exclusionist bloc

Typical Chinese garbage. A free and open Indo-Pacific means free and open for all. The "Exclusionist" is China trying to claim ownership. Chinese lies are becoming very transparent.

The British and all its allies have bin trying to stifle china's rise since the opium war

The reality is the opposite. China has grown off the back of British and Western money and investments. China would not be where it is now without them. The only stifling is against China's Military expansion which it uses for territorial expansion. As far as China's economy is concerned it remains a destination for Western cash and investment.

4 ( +8 / -4 )

I wonder when china will make an official apology and of course compensation in US dollars for mess the CCP did to around the world.

Don't hold your breath. North East Asians have too much pride. Just look at Japan. Lip service apologies, token compensation and victim blaming is all that the world will get.

Agreed.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

Why doesn’t Japan just trust the US to take care of its defense needs? These bilaterals seem like a vote of no confidence.

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

China will continue to use its oppressors to its advantages.

As the largest super computer and largest super conductor gets put into action simultaneously.

China's continued rise appears inevitable.

I think China's tierd of making cheap products to enslave other nations financially at the cost of ruining thier climate with pollution.

Japan is trying to get rid of the usa parasite agreement.

-9 ( +1 / -10 )

I don’t think the problem is China by itself. The more dangerous scenario would be a coalition of China, Russia, and Iran, an anti-US coalition united not by ideology but by complementary grievances.

if things get hot, india just needs to choke oil shipped through its waters from hormuz, and china's industry will ground to a halt in weeks. couple that with dwindling food imports, and china will have a starving populace within 3 months after they eat their way through the grain stores they are building up. 

This is spot on. It is why China is in the South China Seas to counter this.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

The French are being extra aggressive towards marketing its defense equipment since it lost out on the Australian sub deal.

Don't worry for them, they sold plenty planes and frigates meanwhile without being agressive

The French, protecting the last vestiges of its colonial empire.

China, Japan, Taiwan, french colonies ?

Go back to your history books

7 ( +7 / -0 )

China's continued rise appears inevitable.

Rapidly melting glaciers that feed major Chinese rivers combined with a cliff like demographic crash and rising sea levels threatening major Chinese cities, losses of arable land to desertification and urbanization along with rapidly falling groundwater levels says their continued rise is not inevitable. Demographics in particular and loss of water resources are going to bite hard. Political systems like that of China are rigid but brittle. New ideas and free thinkers are not welcomed. They are actively suppressed but new ideas from free thinkers and political flexibility are the only ways China is going to survive the several major challenges it faces in the near future. China's population has begun to decline this year. The working age population began to decline in 2014 and has become smaller each year since. China's economy will begin to stagnate as the number of workers declines while the number of elderly pensioners rapidly increases. Rigid dictatorships can survive and even remain popular when wealth is increasing but if history is a guide, dictatorships do miserably when faced with economic decline. The most durable and long lived governments are those that are elected by their people. Dictatorships never last. Unless the CCP has an internal coup and replaces him soon, Xi Jinping might be the last CCP leader of China and his demise might not be nice either.

4 ( +6 / -2 )

The French are being extra aggressive towards marketing its defense equipment since it lost out on the Australian sub deal.

France has been a major supplier of military equipment to other nations for many decades. It is hardly anything new. They are helping Brazil build their first nuclear submarine, and are building conventional subs for India. They sold subs to Pakistan too. Many countries buy naval vessels, both new and used, from France. Various models of Mirage fighter are used by air forces around the world. Scarebus has been having success selling their A400M military transport aircraft to other nations.

Sweden is another such nation that doesn't seem to draw as much attention to their foreign military sales as do those from other larger nations. Probably every army in the world uses the Carl Gustof recoilless rifle and Sweden has probably been more successful selling their Gripen fighter to foreign nations than France has had selling Rafales. Their small and medium caliber naval guns are ubiquitous, used by navies around the world including the US Navy and Coast Guard.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

How does the CCP believe a “free and open Indo-Pacific” vision is an exclusionist bloc? Is anyone stopping China vessels from traveling through these waters? Is anyone demanding that Chinese vessels report their presence to Customs organisation managing these seas? NO to all of these points. It is China that wants to impose controls on the West Philippine Sea and ignoring International Law and Judgements.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

The whole isolate China thing is such a big mistake that started when Trump lost confidence in the US's ability to compete with China. China is the future and the US is the past. Recognize this and join China in China's technology and economic rise, and Japan and other countries will rise too. And it is the only way to have power to influence China.

Absolutely. Make no mistake, this is all because USA does not want to give up world hegemony. It wants to rule the world. China, unlike USA, has not installed soldiers and military bases ALL over the world. China, a few years back, even had to literally shoot dead CIA operatives working inside China. Didn't hear too much about that in western MSM. You honestly think they don't have US spies in and around China. US knows China is not looking for a war and so it's making up lies. And why is USA asking for diplomatic visa to the Olympics if they are calling for a diplomatic boycott. Because it's getting desperate. I say call their bluff and tell them to stop their athletes from attending. China doesn't care and frankly neither do I.

Even funnier is the way US barred China from international space projects even though US itself relies on other nations. This was the best thing for China as it spurred it to work even harder. Fast forward to 2021 an 2022, China is now looking for international collaborations to use its space station. Italy and some other countries have shown interest. And guess which country submitted applications too? Begins with U, ends with A, has an S in the middle.

US knows the writing is on the wall. It just wants to milk all the money (through wars and selling weapons) and cause as much trouble before they sink.

There is an alternative. Stop behaving like a criminal and work with China for the betterment of the world. But no, it's war war war. And it's dragging other countries like colonialists UK, France and Japan. Very sad.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

tortoise:

The most durable and long lived governments are those that are elected by their people.

Trump 2024!

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

How does the CCP believe a “free and open Indo-Pacific” vision is an exclusionist bloc? Is anyone stopping China vessels from traveling through these waters?

When a home in your neighborhood is robbed, you don’t wait until yours is robbed to install cameras or take measures. You’re the spouse that asks has anyone robbed us?

The US’s dealings with Iran is enough. They were also embargoed for twenty years. You can’t wait until your vessels are overtaken. They started planning this when an US carrier was sent to the South China Seas about ten years ago.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Rapidly melting glaciers that feed major Chinese rivers combined with a cliff like demographic crash and rising sea levels threatening major Chinese cities

Yes, Global Warming is selective and only China will suffer.

China's population has begun to decline this year. The working age population began to decline in 2014 and has become smaller each year since.

And so this means China will collapse? Big jump there. Bigger than the Great Leap Forward.

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

Absolutely. Make no mistake, this is all because USA does not want to give up world hegemony. It wants to rule the world. China, unlike USA, has not installed soldiers and military bases ALL over the world. 

America's first three wars as a new nation, the two wars against the Tripolitan Pirates and the War of 1812 were fought to protect the maritime rights of US ships to use international waters without interference. Freedom of the seas is a longstanding US principal that obtw just happens to be shared by almost all developed nations.

Under international law, a shallows or reef that is submerged at high tide is not any nation's territory. It is and always will be international waters. In addition, man made structures in the sea such as oil rigs or even structures built on otherwise submerged shallows have no territorial features, no sovereign airspace above, no territorial sea around it and especially no EEZ extending 200 nautical miles in all directions.

The Chinese have built a series of man made islands on shallows and reefs that are otherwise submerged at high tide. China has placed military airfields with runways, hangers and all the supporting infrastructure along with radars and missile systems. These are very much overseas military bases. Since these are all man made on otherwise submerged reefs they will never have any sort of territorial sovereignty under international law. They will always be a man made structure and nothing more. Legally any nation can fly right over one, sail right up to the shore without violating any nation's territory. There is no EEZ associated with a man made object so any nation can fish right up to the shore of these man made islands or drill for oil a kilometer away.

But in defiance of international law China asserts they have territorial sovereignty over all of the South China Sea including their man made islands, claim that all ships entering the South China Sea must get permission from some Chinese agency and claims other nation's warships cannot enter the SCS. Since these claims are illegal under international law the US and its allies sail through the SCS as they like. Anything beyond 12 nm from the shores of the nations bordering the SCS is international waters. China has no legal authority over any of it though they sure try to claim they have. The US is under no obligation to do anything the Chinese demand and for them to try and stop a US flagged ship would be an act of war.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

China's population has begun to decline this year. The working age population began to decline in 2014 and has become smaller each year since.

And so this means China will collapse?

It will stop China's economic growth and lead to decades of economic stagnation. The economic juggernaut is not going to go on forever. Fewer workers will be supporting more elderly. China's birth rate is at an all time low and has seen year by year declines for over a decade. Construction is about 30% of China's GDP. But it won't be forever. China has over 40 million unsold excess housing units, enough to house the population of Germany. With population decline there won't be demand for new construction. That industry will decline and with it its share of China's GDP. China is probably at its peak right now. Xi Jinping is not helping the situation by telling their biggest privately held firms to look to those bastions of efficiency and innovation, the sclerotic State Owned Enterprises for their guidance while requiring Chinese tech firms to gain government approval before introducing any new apps. Stripping tech giants like Jack Ma of their companies while telling firms to take direction from state owned enterprises will act as a deterrent to entrepreneurship in China. Future Jack Ma's will go abroad to make their fortunes. Xi Jinping is a Maoist true believer and he will run China's economy and society into the ditch like his idol Mao did.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

It seems Japan is paranoid when she saw the rise of China!

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

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