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Japan repeatedly spots Chinese coast guard and warships near disputed waters

22 Comments
By MARI YAMAGUCHI

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22 Comments
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Japan should park a few of their ships around the islands as well. Stand up to them!!

8 ( +11 / -3 )

Keeping the anti China propaganda going.

-10 ( +2 / -12 )

China is not forcing Japanese jets to scramble. Japan chooses to scramble their jets, which simply encourages China to continue to protect her rightful property stolen by Japan. Not until Kishida formally apologizes and returns the islands, will this region see peace.

-8 ( +3 / -11 )

Oh, BTW, forgot to mention...One cannot "park ships" one can only anchor ships or let them drift without the engine running. Readers should learn basic nautical terms before commenting.

-9 ( +1 / -10 )

Perhaps put some loudspeakers to some continuously-running and loudly-playing Taylor Swift albums, strapped to a remote drone, programmed to float towards the Mainland. Maybe a couple of autographed posters, as well, along with a couple of tickets to her next concert? Depending on when the last time those Chinese crews got any shoreleave, plus their overall opinion over modern western music, maybe they will follow the drone back home? Maybe defect en mass, bowing to the overwhelming sensational superior western culture? Or maybe scuttle their vessel completely and swim for their very lives? Worth a try.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

What are Japanese vessels doing so close to Diaoyu? Under instructions from the RS of the USA no doubt.

-12 ( +2 / -14 )

Until Japan signals that it is serious about protecting the territory it claims, the #CCPChinese will continue to do this.

Because they believe Japan is a weak, spineless country.

Which Japan gives every indication it is.

If #CCPChina sent an armada and seized control over the islands, what would Japan do??

Lodge a "strong" diplomatic protest!1

Japan are spineless cowards.

Defend your territory or shut up!!

2 ( +8 / -6 )

Missile battery with SDF base on the largest island! Problem solved...

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Mr KiplingToday 08:12 am JST

Keeping the anti China propaganda going.

Reporting what China is actually doing isn't propaganda - it's reporting what China is actually doing.

If the government were simply fabricating these Chinese incursions for political reasons you might have a point. But it isn't.

Marc LoweToday 08:20 am JST

Not until Kishida formally apologizes and returns the islands

Formally apologizes for doing nothing wrong, then hands over Japanese sovereign territory to China?

You must have a very strange view of international law and diplomacy.

ProtestantToday 09:08 am JST

There’s an old saying: “Give up what you can’t defend…”

Humankind should, in my opinion, aim to live in a world of laws, rather than a world of "rule by force."

Unfortunately, China wants the latter, which is why patrols such as this, and the reporting of China's malign acts, must continue.

7 ( +8 / -1 )

AndyToday  08:53 am JST

What are Japanese vessels doing so close to Diaoyu? Under instructions from the RS of the USA no doubt.

They are the Senkakus. And they are Japanese territory and under Japanese administration. What are Chinese vessels doing there?

7 ( +10 / -3 )

WandoraToday 11:21 am JST

I would say it is propaganda because there is no other reason to report

"No other reason" to report it?

Warships/coast guard/maritime militia repeatedly nearing - and in some cases, actually entering - Japan's territorial waters, from a nation that claims to own Japanese sovereign territory?

And from a nation that shamelessly defies international law (e.g. UNCLOS ruling on the South China Sea) and has a documented, recent history of maritime aggression, and stealing of other nations' territory?

And from a nation that routinely engages in hostile rhetoric, cyberattacks, economic aggression, and theft from Japan?

I'd say this report (and others like it) is unquestionably newsworthy, and something that the Japanese people and wider world needs to know about.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

@ossan

As it says in the headline, they are disputed territory not Japanese. They are not worth starting a war over

-7 ( +1 / -8 )

Time to build a small port, and small garrison. We’ve helped built a bully, and he’s getting a bit cocky. Might be time to give the bully a talking to.

4 ( +5 / -1 )

Hello Kitty 321Today  12:04 pm JST

@ossan

As it says in the headline, they are disputed territory not Japanese. 

They have always been and are Japanese.

If it is "disputed" why doesn't Chinas bring a claim to the ICJ? Until then there is no dispute.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

"Japan are spineless cowards.

Defend your territory or shut up!!

Au contraire!

Japan is simply following International Law to a T, as it should be.

By lodging protests using diplomacy.

It's called the Doctrine of Acquiescence.

1 ( +3 / -2 )

The geopolitical situation is changing, get over it. You are all tired now China is ahead of you all

-4 ( +1 / -5 )

The strait between Okinawa and Miyako islands is international waters, what are the Japanese upset about?

1 ( +1 / -0 )

In case you hadn't had a chance to read it on another thread, let me post the following screed here too just for your information, to clarify why the island chain is called the Senkakus in Japan, but Diaoyudaos in mainland China. 

It was Chen Kwan(1489-1538), an accredited Chinese royal envoy during the Qin Dynasty who came to Ryukyu in 1534 to crown a king under a tributary system. It was he who first documented the name Diaoyudao in his "Emissary's Record of Ryukyu", a document and a travelogue he submitted to the Chinese Emperor. (See Nobuo Harada: "The Senkaku Islands: Reading Chinese Emissary's Documentation of Ryukyu Kingdom."

Apparently, he had Ryukyu seamen aboard the same tributary ship explained the detail about the island chain. In the local vernacular, the island was called either ”Yukun” or ”Iigun” meaning "fish place or island". The /yu/ or /ii/ in these words mean "fish"; /kun/ or /gun/ is a suffix usually attached to place names, as in 阿波根 /ahagun/, 比屋根 /hiyagun/, 手登根 /tidukun/, 宮国 /mya:gun/, etc. You know the waters around the island have been known to this day as rich fishing grounds.

Chen Kwan must have thought of the famous historical site of Diaoyucheng back home in China when he heard about the description of the island's name from accompanying Ryukyu seamen and so recorded it as Diaoyudao after this famous historical site.

The Japanese name "Senkaku" apparently came from the English "Pinnacle Islands" as the islands came to be

known to the crew of the HMS Samarang, that launched an exploration of the baren island group after they had heard from Ishigaki islanders about the existence of a group of uninhabited islands located northeast of Ishigaki Island. The island group appeared to the crew members to be no man's land. 

There is a lot of room for speculation about the origin and history of the island's name. One thing is clear, though. That is, no one can lay claim to the uninhabited islands solely on the basis of Chen Kwan's description of the island chain.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Further references to the Senkaku/Diaoyu issue:

Kubajima (久場島)or Huangwei Yu (黄尾鱮)in Chinese, the second largest island in the Senkaku/Diaoyudao Islands, was an important landmark for ancient Ryukyu seamen and seafarers navigating on the Ryukyu-Fuchuan sea lane. These seafarers, who were thoroughly familiar with the Senkaku waters more than anyone else, called this landmark island "Kubajima" because, according to one theory, the island was covered full with “kuba” (or Areca) palms. But I think it was called by that name because the island's shape is quite similar to that of another island called Kubajima, that is located about 40 km west of Naha, Okinawa Island, on the same sea lane. When necessary, the former was called "Iigun Kubajima" to distinguish it from the latter.

Wasn't the Chinese "Huangmao (Yu)" (黄毛)as recorded by Chen Kwan and "Huangwei (Yu)"(黄尾)as recorded later, meaning "yellow hair or tail", a homophonic translation of Kuba(jima)? Note that the k-sound of Japanese (and Ryukyuan) ordinarily corresponds to the h-sound in Chinese. For example, 上海, 海宝, 海南島, (中国)海警, 漢, 河南, 黄河, 中華, 華為, etc., in all of which the characters with the k-sound in Japanese are pronounced with the h-sound in Chinese. So it's very likely that Ryukyuan "kuba" was a homophonic translation haphazardly written in Chinese characters as Huanmao (黄毛). Or did the ancient Chinese think the island was inhabited by mythic animals with yellow tails or hair and so they called it as such?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

(Continued)

The easternmost island in the chain is officially called Taishojima in Japan today, but historically it used to be called Kumi-Akajima by Ryukyu seamen. Here, too, we see the same mechanism of nomenclature as in the case of Kubajima. There's an island called Akajima in the Kerama Islands whereby Kumi-Akajima in the Senkakus must have been named after this with Kumi added to differentiate it from its namesake.

The Chinese call this island Chiwei Yu (赤尾鱮), meaning "red-tailed island." Does it mean the Chinese believed the island was inhabited by animals with red tails? Isn't it a semantic conversion of what Ryukyu seamen called Kumi Akajima (久米阿嘉島), which could mean "Kume Red Island" in folk etymology?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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