CGTech
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Ahh... that explains why the Stennis is being rushed to the ME situation... geez, anyone got a match? seems like we have multiplie piles of tinder...!
WAR FUNG ADVISORY: 1000 Chinese Boats Arrive in Water Near Senkakus--Disputed Japanese Islands
- Thread starter doctor_fungcool
- Start date
Ahh... that explains why the Stennis is being rushed to the ME situation... geez, anyone got a match? seems like we have multiplie piles of tinder...!
There are nearly 36000 US troops with 10,000 dependents in Japan. And yes the George Washington and her battle group are based in Japan. There are also 28,500 US troops in South Korea.
Ben Sunday
Has No Life - Lives on TB
He certainly is. And he hasn't a clue what to do. Who knows what nations he will simply write off next?
Ben Sunday
Has No Life - Lives on TB
This is a critical aspect that is hiding behind the lines of this particular discussion, imo.
Yes, the slants will piss and moan about those small islands with lots of bluff and bluster to go around. However, if it is a cover move or a distraction for taking Taiwan, then we will have a dire situation on our hands. May have to sacrifice Japan and go to war with the PRC, Talk about ugly...
Arresting the spread of Red Chinese hegemony now is almost as critical to the world as if we had managed to stop Japan in the 30's with their Asian Co-Prosperity Sphere. You need to look at it this way:
The world might be very different IF....
Just a thought, but how much of an impact would a highly publicized "steel beach" on an Ohio SSBN and or SSGN in WESTPAC have on the situation? Or am I being too subtle?
Mzkitty
I give up.
China says it reserves the right to take further action over Senkaku islands dispute with Japan - Kyodo
1 hour ago by editor
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta urges China, Japan to exercise restraint - @Reuters
3 hours ago from www.reuters.com by editor
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta urges Japan, China to 'avoid further escalation' of island dispute - @CNN
3 hours ago from edition.cnn.com by editor
Report: Anti-Japan protests spread to 100 cities in China - @KyodoNewsENG
4 hours ago from english.kyodonews.jp by editor
1 hour ago by editor
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta urges China, Japan to exercise restraint - @Reuters
3 hours ago from www.reuters.com by editor
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta urges Japan, China to 'avoid further escalation' of island dispute - @CNN
3 hours ago from edition.cnn.com by editor
Report: Anti-Japan protests spread to 100 cities in China - @KyodoNewsENG
4 hours ago from english.kyodonews.jp by editor
CGTech
Has No Life - Lives on TB
oh crap, that ain't good...
doctor_fungcool
TB Fanatic
I don't think it would make much difference. I suspect all the world powers pretty much assume that the US has subs floating near any hotspot or potential hotspot, if for no other reason than intelligence gathering. Besides, US boomers carry missiles with intercontinental range. They could be anywhere west of the International Dateline, and they're in range of China.
However, "buzzing" some Chinese fleets with a couple of Seawolfs or Virginias would probably cause more than a few sphincters to contract. Just surface in the middle of the formation, then sink out of sight and disappear; repeat as necessary.
Mzkitty
I give up.
This was posted elsewhere. This is a snip of a very long article, go to link to read it all:
BEIJING/TOKYO —
Anti-Japan protests reignited across China on Tuesday, forcing Japanese firms in the country to suspend operations, as a crisis over a territorial dispute escalated on the anniversary of Japan’s pre-war invasion of its giant neighbor.
Relations between Asia’s two biggest economies faltered badly on the anniversary, with emotions running high on the streets.
The dispute over the uninhabited group of islands in the East China Sea—known as the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China—led to a day of anti-Japan protests which Japanese expatriates fear could peak later on Tuesday.
Japanese businesses shut hundreds of stores and plants across China and Japan’s embassy in Beijing again came under siege by protesters hurling water bottles, waving Chinese flags, and chanting anti-Japan slogans evoking war-time enmity.
http://www.japantoday.com/category/...sses-bunker-down-ahead-of-more-china-protests
BEIJING/TOKYO —
Anti-Japan protests reignited across China on Tuesday, forcing Japanese firms in the country to suspend operations, as a crisis over a territorial dispute escalated on the anniversary of Japan’s pre-war invasion of its giant neighbor.
Relations between Asia’s two biggest economies faltered badly on the anniversary, with emotions running high on the streets.
The dispute over the uninhabited group of islands in the East China Sea—known as the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China—led to a day of anti-Japan protests which Japanese expatriates fear could peak later on Tuesday.
Japanese businesses shut hundreds of stores and plants across China and Japan’s embassy in Beijing again came under siege by protesters hurling water bottles, waving Chinese flags, and chanting anti-Japan slogans evoking war-time enmity.
http://www.japantoday.com/category/...sses-bunker-down-ahead-of-more-china-protests
Mzkitty
I give up.
And this along with it:
In response, Japanese businesses started shutting down their Chinese factories.
All of a sudden, the $345 billion-a-year trade between the two countries is at risk, and the Chinese government was forced to chide its own citizens.
China's Xinjiang vows 'iron hand' against violence: reports
Things settled down somewhat enough for factories to reopen yesterday, but there may be renewed violence later today because it's the anniversary of Japan's occupation of various parts of mainland China in 1931. Some larger companies like Honda and Mazda look to be planning a strategic withdrawal starting today.
http://investmentwatchblog.com/japa...-japanese-factories-set-on-fire/#.UFhhNK5oriQ
In response, Japanese businesses started shutting down their Chinese factories.
All of a sudden, the $345 billion-a-year trade between the two countries is at risk, and the Chinese government was forced to chide its own citizens.
China's Xinjiang vows 'iron hand' against violence: reports
Things settled down somewhat enough for factories to reopen yesterday, but there may be renewed violence later today because it's the anniversary of Japan's occupation of various parts of mainland China in 1931. Some larger companies like Honda and Mazda look to be planning a strategic withdrawal starting today.
http://investmentwatchblog.com/japa...-japanese-factories-set-on-fire/#.UFhhNK5oriQ
Mzkitty
I give up.
Nissan to restart production at China plants on Wednesday, company spokesman says - @Reuters
1 min ago from www.reuters.com by editor
--------
Nissan to restart production at China plants on Wednesday
Nikkei slips, investors mull outlook for China-exposed firms
3:36am EDT
Japan brandname firms shut China plants after protest violence
Mon, Sep 17 2012
WRAPUP 3-Japanese firms shut China plants, US urges calm in islands row
Mon, Sep 17 2012
China struggles to curb anger as protesters denounce Japan
Sun, Sep 16 2012
Anti-Japan protests erupt in China over islands row
Sat, Sep 15 2012
TOKYO | Tue Sep 18, 2012 8:17am EDT
(Reuters) - Japan's Nissan Motor Co will resume production at four plants in China on Wednesday after having halted operations there following anti-Japanese demonstrations, a company spokesman said.
The automaker suspended production on Monday and Tuesday at two factories each in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou and the central city of Zhengzhou.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/18/us-china-japan-nissan-idUSBRE88H0MF20120918
1 min ago from www.reuters.com by editor
--------
Nissan to restart production at China plants on Wednesday
Nikkei slips, investors mull outlook for China-exposed firms
3:36am EDT
Japan brandname firms shut China plants after protest violence
Mon, Sep 17 2012
WRAPUP 3-Japanese firms shut China plants, US urges calm in islands row
Mon, Sep 17 2012
China struggles to curb anger as protesters denounce Japan
Sun, Sep 16 2012
Anti-Japan protests erupt in China over islands row
Sat, Sep 15 2012
TOKYO | Tue Sep 18, 2012 8:17am EDT
(Reuters) - Japan's Nissan Motor Co will resume production at four plants in China on Wednesday after having halted operations there following anti-Japanese demonstrations, a company spokesman said.
The automaker suspended production on Monday and Tuesday at two factories each in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou and the central city of Zhengzhou.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/18/us-china-japan-nissan-idUSBRE88H0MF20120918
For links see article source.....
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Ma...ate+anti+Japanese+protests/7256308/story.html
Manthorpe: Chinese leaders orchestrate anti-Japanese protests over islands
By Jonathan Manthorpe, Vancouver Sun September 17, 2012
There is a prospect of worsening relations between China and Japan as both governments move to control and direct nationalist antagonisms over the disputed ownership of a group of islands.
The moves are most evident in China where authorities took firm control, but also encouraged anti-Japanese protests by tens of thousands of people in 85 cities during the past few days.
The situation in China has added intrigue because of evidence that factions in the contest for leadership positions in the ruling Communist party and government to be announced in the next few months are using swelling anti-Japanese nationalism to their own advantage.
There is speculation among well-placed Chinese commentators that designated incoming party leader and president Xi Jinping, who is seen as being close to the military, is trying to prevent the man he is set to replace, Hu Jintao, from keeping control of the powerful Communist party Military Commission.
The Chinese protests were set off by the Japanese government of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, which a few days ago “nationalized” the uninhabited islands by buying them from their private owner.
The purchase was an attempt by the Japanese government to head off a campaign by the ultranationalist governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara, for his municipality to buy the islands, known as the Senkakus in Japan and, since 1970, the Diaoyutai in China.
There are broader implications prompting the two governments to take control of the issue, which until now has generated intense emotional commitment among only a tiny minorities of nationalists in China and Japan, and also in Taiwan.
China’s regional political and military muscle, which have grown alongside its economic blossoming, have rekindled old territorial disputes with several of its neighbours, as well as raising anxieties about Beijing’s desire to project power in the Far East and Southeast Asia.
For some time, prominent Chinese military men such as generals Liu Yazhou and Liu Yuan have been publicly critical of what they see as a supine attitude by the government of President Hu toward Japan over the Senkakus, and toward Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia over disputed islands in the South China Sea.
But this past weekend, some of the bellicose language of the generals was adopted for the first time by the Beijing government.
Far more threatening in tone was the vice-minister of foreign affairs, Le Yucheng, who in a speech talked of “sinister” developments in Japan.
He characterized the Noda government as weak and therefore giving in to ultra-right-wing nationalist forces in Japan.
Tension over the Senkakus is being “stirred up single-handedly” by the Noda government with the aim of “rewriting Japan’s inglorious history of illegally stealing Chinese territory,” Le said.
The Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea have been under Japanese control since 1895.
They did not become a bone of contention between Tokyo and Beijing until 1970 when a United Nations report produced evidence of submarine reserves of oil and natural gas in the region.
Since then, there have been increasingly frequent attempts by Chinese nationalists to land on the islands, and by Chinese fishermen to work in the waters around the islands.
The Japanese Coast Guard has usually intercepted the intruders, but on occasion there have been violent clashes.
In the last few days, China has heightened the prospects of more clashes and perhaps worse by sending maritime surveillance ships to the waters around the islands.
Since it came to power in 1949, the Chinese Communist Party has fostered strong anti-Japanese prejudice among its people by putting great emphasis in school and college teaching on the worst excesses of the Japanese military regime in the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s.
The purposes of this is in part to divert attention from the even worse excesses of the Chinese Communist Party, especially during the rule of dynasty founder Mao Zedong, and to entrenched nationalist sympathies to be called on in time of need.
But generations of Beijing’s leaders have been acutely aware that nationalism and extreme patriotism are dangerous sentiments that can easily turn on those in power.
And, indeed, it has been noticeable in anti-Japanese demonstrations in recent years, including in those of the last few days, that some demonstrators accuse the Beijing government of failing to be strong enough in its dealings with Japan because of corruption or incompetence.
Partly for this reason the authorities both encourage and take control of the anti-Japanese demonstrations.
Protesters in Beijing over the weekend were herded into groups of 100.
Those without banners were given Chinese flags and were then guided to the Japanese embassy for five minutes of chanting before being replaced by the next group.
In the southern city of Shenzhen, the authorities used text messaging to get their instructions out to would-be demonstrators.
“In order to ensure your own and others’ safety and maintain normal social order, everyone please express their patriotic fervour rationally, and abstain from illegal or criminal behaviour,” said the message.
jmanthorpe@vancouversun.com
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
Posted for fair use.....
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Ma...ate+anti+Japanese+protests/7256308/story.html
Manthorpe: Chinese leaders orchestrate anti-Japanese protests over islands
By Jonathan Manthorpe, Vancouver Sun September 17, 2012
There is a prospect of worsening relations between China and Japan as both governments move to control and direct nationalist antagonisms over the disputed ownership of a group of islands.
The moves are most evident in China where authorities took firm control, but also encouraged anti-Japanese protests by tens of thousands of people in 85 cities during the past few days.
The situation in China has added intrigue because of evidence that factions in the contest for leadership positions in the ruling Communist party and government to be announced in the next few months are using swelling anti-Japanese nationalism to their own advantage.
There is speculation among well-placed Chinese commentators that designated incoming party leader and president Xi Jinping, who is seen as being close to the military, is trying to prevent the man he is set to replace, Hu Jintao, from keeping control of the powerful Communist party Military Commission.
The Chinese protests were set off by the Japanese government of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, which a few days ago “nationalized” the uninhabited islands by buying them from their private owner.
The purchase was an attempt by the Japanese government to head off a campaign by the ultranationalist governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara, for his municipality to buy the islands, known as the Senkakus in Japan and, since 1970, the Diaoyutai in China.
There are broader implications prompting the two governments to take control of the issue, which until now has generated intense emotional commitment among only a tiny minorities of nationalists in China and Japan, and also in Taiwan.
China’s regional political and military muscle, which have grown alongside its economic blossoming, have rekindled old territorial disputes with several of its neighbours, as well as raising anxieties about Beijing’s desire to project power in the Far East and Southeast Asia.
For some time, prominent Chinese military men such as generals Liu Yazhou and Liu Yuan have been publicly critical of what they see as a supine attitude by the government of President Hu toward Japan over the Senkakus, and toward Vietnam, the Philippines and Malaysia over disputed islands in the South China Sea.
But this past weekend, some of the bellicose language of the generals was adopted for the first time by the Beijing government.
Far more threatening in tone was the vice-minister of foreign affairs, Le Yucheng, who in a speech talked of “sinister” developments in Japan.
He characterized the Noda government as weak and therefore giving in to ultra-right-wing nationalist forces in Japan.
Tension over the Senkakus is being “stirred up single-handedly” by the Noda government with the aim of “rewriting Japan’s inglorious history of illegally stealing Chinese territory,” Le said.
The Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea have been under Japanese control since 1895.
They did not become a bone of contention between Tokyo and Beijing until 1970 when a United Nations report produced evidence of submarine reserves of oil and natural gas in the region.
Since then, there have been increasingly frequent attempts by Chinese nationalists to land on the islands, and by Chinese fishermen to work in the waters around the islands.
The Japanese Coast Guard has usually intercepted the intruders, but on occasion there have been violent clashes.
In the last few days, China has heightened the prospects of more clashes and perhaps worse by sending maritime surveillance ships to the waters around the islands.
Since it came to power in 1949, the Chinese Communist Party has fostered strong anti-Japanese prejudice among its people by putting great emphasis in school and college teaching on the worst excesses of the Japanese military regime in the 1920s, ’30s and ’40s.
The purposes of this is in part to divert attention from the even worse excesses of the Chinese Communist Party, especially during the rule of dynasty founder Mao Zedong, and to entrenched nationalist sympathies to be called on in time of need.
But generations of Beijing’s leaders have been acutely aware that nationalism and extreme patriotism are dangerous sentiments that can easily turn on those in power.
And, indeed, it has been noticeable in anti-Japanese demonstrations in recent years, including in those of the last few days, that some demonstrators accuse the Beijing government of failing to be strong enough in its dealings with Japan because of corruption or incompetence.
Partly for this reason the authorities both encourage and take control of the anti-Japanese demonstrations.
Protesters in Beijing over the weekend were herded into groups of 100.
Those without banners were given Chinese flags and were then guided to the Japanese embassy for five minutes of chanting before being replaced by the next group.
In the southern city of Shenzhen, the authorities used text messaging to get their instructions out to would-be demonstrators.
“In order to ensure your own and others’ safety and maintain normal social order, everyone please express their patriotic fervour rationally, and abstain from illegal or criminal behaviour,” said the message.
jmanthorpe@vancouversun.com
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun
doctor_fungcool
TB Fanatic
This is disturbing, very disturbing.
Chinese General: Prepare for Combat
Top Chinese general in unusual move tells troops to ready for combat with Japan
China’s most powerful military leader, in an unusual public statement, last week ordered military forces to prepare for combat, as Chinese warships deployed to waters near disputed islands and anti-Japan protests throughout the country turned violent.
Protests against the Japanese government’s purchase of three privately held islands in the Senkakus chain led to mass street protests, the burning of Japanese flags, and attacks on Japanese businesses and cars in several cities. Some carried signs that read “Kill all Japanese,” and “Fight to the Death” over disputed islands. One sign urged China to threaten a nuclear strike against Japan.
Gen. Xu Caihou, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, considered the most senior military political commissar, said Friday that military forces should be “prepared for any possible military combat,” state run Xinhua news agency reported.
Heightened tensions over the Senkakus come as Defense Secretary Leon Panetta arrived in China Monday.
Panetta, in comments made in Japan shortly before traveling to China, said, “We are concerned by the demonstrations, and we are concerned by the conflict that is taking place over the Senkaku islands.”
“The message I have tried to convey is we have to urge calm and restraint on all sides,” he said, noting any “provocation” could produce a “blow up.”
Panetta repeated the U.S. position that it is neutral in the dispute over Japan’s Senkaku islands, a small chain of islets located south of Okinawa and north of Taiwan. But he also reaffirmed the U.S. defense commitment to Japan, a treaty ally.
“We stand by our treaty obligations,” Panetta said, echoing a similar commitment made during a 2010 standoff between Beijing and Tokyo over the Senkakus. ”They’re longstanding, and that has not changed.”
China claims the islands as its territory and calls them the Diaoyu islands.
http://freebeacon.com/chinese-general-prepare-for-combat/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As we skid down this slippery 'slope', I imagine many of us find the world we live in very scary.
Chinese General: Prepare for Combat
Top Chinese general in unusual move tells troops to ready for combat with Japan
China’s most powerful military leader, in an unusual public statement, last week ordered military forces to prepare for combat, as Chinese warships deployed to waters near disputed islands and anti-Japan protests throughout the country turned violent.
Protests against the Japanese government’s purchase of three privately held islands in the Senkakus chain led to mass street protests, the burning of Japanese flags, and attacks on Japanese businesses and cars in several cities. Some carried signs that read “Kill all Japanese,” and “Fight to the Death” over disputed islands. One sign urged China to threaten a nuclear strike against Japan.
Gen. Xu Caihou, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, considered the most senior military political commissar, said Friday that military forces should be “prepared for any possible military combat,” state run Xinhua news agency reported.
Heightened tensions over the Senkakus come as Defense Secretary Leon Panetta arrived in China Monday.
Panetta, in comments made in Japan shortly before traveling to China, said, “We are concerned by the demonstrations, and we are concerned by the conflict that is taking place over the Senkaku islands.”
“The message I have tried to convey is we have to urge calm and restraint on all sides,” he said, noting any “provocation” could produce a “blow up.”
Panetta repeated the U.S. position that it is neutral in the dispute over Japan’s Senkaku islands, a small chain of islets located south of Okinawa and north of Taiwan. But he also reaffirmed the U.S. defense commitment to Japan, a treaty ally.
“We stand by our treaty obligations,” Panetta said, echoing a similar commitment made during a 2010 standoff between Beijing and Tokyo over the Senkakus. ”They’re longstanding, and that has not changed.”
China claims the islands as its territory and calls them the Diaoyu islands.
http://freebeacon.com/chinese-general-prepare-for-combat/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As we skid down this slippery 'slope', I imagine many of us find the world we live in very scary.
Chinese General: Prepare for Combat
Top Chinese general in unusual move tells troops to ready for combat with Japan
BY: Bill Gertz
September 18, 2012 5:00 am
China’s most powerful military leader, in an unusual public statement, last week ordered military forces to prepare for combat, as Chinese warships deployed to waters near disputed islands and anti-Japan protests throughout the country turned violent.
Protests against the Japanese government’s purchase of three privately held islands in the Senkakus chain led to mass street protests, the burning of Japanese flags, and attacks on Japanese businesses and cars in several cities. Some carried signs that read “Kill all Japanese,” and “Fight to the Death” over disputed islands. One sign urged China to threaten a nuclear strike against Japan.
Gen. Xu Caihou, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, considered the most senior military political commissar, said Friday that military forces should be “prepared for any possible military combat,” state run Xinhua news agency reported.
Heightened tensions over the Senkakus come as Defense Secretary Leon Panetta arrived in China Monday.
Panetta, in comments made in Japan shortly before traveling to China, said, “We are concerned by the demonstrations, and we are concerned by the conflict that is taking place over the Senkaku islands.”
“The message I have tried to convey is we have to urge calm and restraint on all sides,” he said, noting any “provocation” could produce a “blow up.”
Panetta repeated the U.S. position that it is neutral in the dispute over Japan’s Senkaku islands, a small chain of islets located south of Okinawa and north of Taiwan. But he also reaffirmed the U.S. defense commitment to Japan, a treaty ally.
“We stand by our treaty obligations,” Panetta said, echoing a similar commitment made during a 2010 standoff between Beijing and Tokyo over the Senkakus. ”They’re longstanding, and that has not changed.”
China claims the islands as its territory and calls them the Diaoyu islands.
Last week, following the Japanese government’s purchase of three of the Senkakus from private Japanese owners, six Chinese maritime security ships were deployed near the Senkaku islands, further heightening tensions.
Xu’s unusual comments followed reports in state-controlled Chinese media that opposed the Japanese government’s purchase of the three islands.
Xu said during a visit to military units near Taiyuan, in the northern province of Shanxi, “efforts should be made to ensure that the military is capable of resolutely performing its duty to safeguard the country’s national sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity whenever it is needed by the Party and the people.”
A U.S. official said the PLA’s most senior political general rarely makes such direct appeals to troops to prepare for combat.
Panetta told reporters en route to Japan, the first stop on a three-nation visit to Asia, “The United States does not take a position with regards to territorial disputes.”
In 2010, then-Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates invoked the U.S.-Japan defense treaty when tensions between China and Japan increased over Tokyo’s arrest of a Chinese fishing captain who rammed his boat against a Japanese coast guard vessel in waters near the Senkakus. Gates said the United States would “fulfill our alliance responsibilities” toward Japan.
Japan’s Coast Guard announced on Sept. 14 that six Chinese maritime patrol vessels sailed into Japanese-controlled waters near the Senkakus and the vessels ignored Japanese warnings for the ships to leave the area.
Other reports from China on Monday showed a convoy of hundreds of Chinese fishing vessels sailing toward the disputed islands.
The six Chinese ships entered Japanese waters near the island on Friday, and ignored Japanese coast guard orders for them to vacate what it said was its territorial waters.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed that six of its surveillance ships had entered the waters near the islands.
China’s aggressiveness in maritime disputes has garnered little attention in the presidential election campaign.
http://freebeacon.com/chinese-general-prepare-for-combat/
Top Chinese general in unusual move tells troops to ready for combat with Japan
BY: Bill Gertz
September 18, 2012 5:00 am
China’s most powerful military leader, in an unusual public statement, last week ordered military forces to prepare for combat, as Chinese warships deployed to waters near disputed islands and anti-Japan protests throughout the country turned violent.
Protests against the Japanese government’s purchase of three privately held islands in the Senkakus chain led to mass street protests, the burning of Japanese flags, and attacks on Japanese businesses and cars in several cities. Some carried signs that read “Kill all Japanese,” and “Fight to the Death” over disputed islands. One sign urged China to threaten a nuclear strike against Japan.
Gen. Xu Caihou, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, considered the most senior military political commissar, said Friday that military forces should be “prepared for any possible military combat,” state run Xinhua news agency reported.
Heightened tensions over the Senkakus come as Defense Secretary Leon Panetta arrived in China Monday.
Panetta, in comments made in Japan shortly before traveling to China, said, “We are concerned by the demonstrations, and we are concerned by the conflict that is taking place over the Senkaku islands.”
“The message I have tried to convey is we have to urge calm and restraint on all sides,” he said, noting any “provocation” could produce a “blow up.”
Panetta repeated the U.S. position that it is neutral in the dispute over Japan’s Senkaku islands, a small chain of islets located south of Okinawa and north of Taiwan. But he also reaffirmed the U.S. defense commitment to Japan, a treaty ally.
“We stand by our treaty obligations,” Panetta said, echoing a similar commitment made during a 2010 standoff between Beijing and Tokyo over the Senkakus. ”They’re longstanding, and that has not changed.”
China claims the islands as its territory and calls them the Diaoyu islands.
Last week, following the Japanese government’s purchase of three of the Senkakus from private Japanese owners, six Chinese maritime security ships were deployed near the Senkaku islands, further heightening tensions.
Xu’s unusual comments followed reports in state-controlled Chinese media that opposed the Japanese government’s purchase of the three islands.
Xu said during a visit to military units near Taiyuan, in the northern province of Shanxi, “efforts should be made to ensure that the military is capable of resolutely performing its duty to safeguard the country’s national sovereignty, security, and territorial integrity whenever it is needed by the Party and the people.”
A U.S. official said the PLA’s most senior political general rarely makes such direct appeals to troops to prepare for combat.
Panetta told reporters en route to Japan, the first stop on a three-nation visit to Asia, “The United States does not take a position with regards to territorial disputes.”
In 2010, then-Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates invoked the U.S.-Japan defense treaty when tensions between China and Japan increased over Tokyo’s arrest of a Chinese fishing captain who rammed his boat against a Japanese coast guard vessel in waters near the Senkakus. Gates said the United States would “fulfill our alliance responsibilities” toward Japan.
Japan’s Coast Guard announced on Sept. 14 that six Chinese maritime patrol vessels sailed into Japanese-controlled waters near the Senkakus and the vessels ignored Japanese warnings for the ships to leave the area.
Other reports from China on Monday showed a convoy of hundreds of Chinese fishing vessels sailing toward the disputed islands.
The six Chinese ships entered Japanese waters near the island on Friday, and ignored Japanese coast guard orders for them to vacate what it said was its territorial waters.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry confirmed that six of its surveillance ships had entered the waters near the islands.
China’s aggressiveness in maritime disputes has garnered little attention in the presidential election campaign.
http://freebeacon.com/chinese-general-prepare-for-combat/
Mzkitty
I give up.
About 1000 fishing boats mobilized by China are nearing an island chain controlled by Japan - @smh
2 mins ago from www.smh.com.au by editor
----------------
Japanese businesses close as China burns over anniversary
September 19, 2012
5 reading now
BEIJING: About 1000 fishing boats mobilised by China are nearing an island chain controlled by Japan, as the quarrel between the countries resulted in Japanese businesses suspending their Chinese operations.
Chinese fishing boats, which appear suspiciously well-drilled and organised, have clashed with the Japanese Coast Guard over the islands in the past, but never in such numbers.
Japan's Coast Guard reported seeing fishing boats outside the territorial waters of the islands, known as Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese, Kyodo News reported yesterday.
They may be joined by six Chinese patrol ships, which briefly entered Japanese waters last Friday in a show of defiance. The dispute over the islands, which has been rumbling for decades, intensified last week after Japan announced it had bought some of the archipelago for the nation from a Japanese family.
Advertisement
That enraged China, which also claims sovereignty over the chain. Over the weekend, tens of thousands of Chinese protested in more than 50 cities, overturning Japanese cars and burning the Japanese flag.
A number of Japanese businesses have suspended their China operations. Panasonic, Canon, Honda, Mazda and Toyota have halted their factories, while almost 200 7-eleven convenience stores have shut and Uniqlo, the clothes retailer, has removed the signs from its shop and shut its doors.
''I want to leave,'' said a Nissan executive, who declined to be named, in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. ''Protests near my home were horrifying over the weekend.''
Some of the protests have been violent, while others involved vandalism, looting and arson. A man burned his Honda Civic outside one of the carmaker's showrooms in Shanghai. However, there have been no reports of serious injuries to Japanese citizens in China.
The anger flared again yesterday, the 81st anniversary of the Mukden incident, in which the Japanese army blew up a railway in Manchuria to serve as a pretext for an invasion.
Thousands of people hemmed in by riot police protested outside the Japanese embassy in Beijing. As a helicopter hovered overhead, demonstrators waving Chinese flags marched up and down a street outside the embassy that had been blocked off. Japanese retailers in China closed their doors and covered up their logos to thwart attacks after car dealerships were torched over the weekend.
''We're not just protesting Diaoyu Island,'' said Liu Lin, 53, who took a day off to demonstrate. ''We're angry because the Japanese did not learn their lessons from World War II like Germany. Instead they are trying to steal our territory again.''
The US Defence Secretary, Leon Panetta, said in Tokyo both sides should calm down. Mr Panetta also disclosed he would meet China's president-in-waiting, Xi Jinping, in Beijing.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/japanes...anniversary-20120918-264ku.html#ixzz26sCNKF1U
2 mins ago from www.smh.com.au by editor
----------------
Japanese businesses close as China burns over anniversary
September 19, 2012
5 reading now
BEIJING: About 1000 fishing boats mobilised by China are nearing an island chain controlled by Japan, as the quarrel between the countries resulted in Japanese businesses suspending their Chinese operations.
Chinese fishing boats, which appear suspiciously well-drilled and organised, have clashed with the Japanese Coast Guard over the islands in the past, but never in such numbers.
Japan's Coast Guard reported seeing fishing boats outside the territorial waters of the islands, known as Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese, Kyodo News reported yesterday.
They may be joined by six Chinese patrol ships, which briefly entered Japanese waters last Friday in a show of defiance. The dispute over the islands, which has been rumbling for decades, intensified last week after Japan announced it had bought some of the archipelago for the nation from a Japanese family.
Advertisement
That enraged China, which also claims sovereignty over the chain. Over the weekend, tens of thousands of Chinese protested in more than 50 cities, overturning Japanese cars and burning the Japanese flag.
A number of Japanese businesses have suspended their China operations. Panasonic, Canon, Honda, Mazda and Toyota have halted their factories, while almost 200 7-eleven convenience stores have shut and Uniqlo, the clothes retailer, has removed the signs from its shop and shut its doors.
''I want to leave,'' said a Nissan executive, who declined to be named, in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou. ''Protests near my home were horrifying over the weekend.''
Some of the protests have been violent, while others involved vandalism, looting and arson. A man burned his Honda Civic outside one of the carmaker's showrooms in Shanghai. However, there have been no reports of serious injuries to Japanese citizens in China.
The anger flared again yesterday, the 81st anniversary of the Mukden incident, in which the Japanese army blew up a railway in Manchuria to serve as a pretext for an invasion.
Thousands of people hemmed in by riot police protested outside the Japanese embassy in Beijing. As a helicopter hovered overhead, demonstrators waving Chinese flags marched up and down a street outside the embassy that had been blocked off. Japanese retailers in China closed their doors and covered up their logos to thwart attacks after car dealerships were torched over the weekend.
''We're not just protesting Diaoyu Island,'' said Liu Lin, 53, who took a day off to demonstrate. ''We're angry because the Japanese did not learn their lessons from World War II like Germany. Instead they are trying to steal our territory again.''
The US Defence Secretary, Leon Panetta, said in Tokyo both sides should calm down. Mr Panetta also disclosed he would meet China's president-in-waiting, Xi Jinping, in Beijing.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/japanes...anniversary-20120918-264ku.html#ixzz26sCNKF1U
Ben Sunday
Has No Life - Lives on TB
For links see article source....
Posted for fair use....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/17/rage-elite-stolen-chinas-soul
Rage at an elite that has stolen China's soul
Behind the current wave of nationalistic fervour is ordinary Chinese people's anger at a cynical and corrupt regime
Share 28
Email
Chun Lin
Lin Chun
guardian.co.uk, Monday 17 September 2012 14.35 EDT
Jump to comments (91)
Demonstrators outside the Japanese embassy in Beijing
Demonstrators outside the Japanese embassy in Beijing as the row over the Senkaku islands, known as Diaoyu in China, escalates. Photograph: David Gray/Reuters
The 36th anniversary of Mao's death, a little over a week ago, was met by official silence – but spontaneous commemorations across China, including a long queue outside the Mao Memorial Hall in Tiananmen Square.
The next day, Wen Jiabao, the premier, spoke at a ceremony to unveil statues of Zhou Enlai, the first premier of the People's Republic, and Chen Yi, who took over as foreign minister from Zhou. He said: "Old China was totally humiliated, its territories were fragmented … The older generation of revolutionaries like Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and Chen Yi founded the People's Republic and ended a hundred years of humiliation in our recent national history, laying the foundation of new China's foreign relations. We must for ever remember their magnificent achievements, and study, carry on and develop their intellectual and spiritual qualities".
The day after that speech the Japanese government signed a deal to begin to "nationalise" the Senkaku islands, known as Diaoyu in China. The Chinese government strongly objected, and sent surveillance ships to the disputed waters. Popular feelings also ran high: anti-Japan demonstrations have spread across China, including Hong Kong. Taiwan's veteran "defending Diaoyu movement" has been boosted by implicit official support. Larger mass rallies could occur on Tuesday, the anniversary of the 1931 Japanese invasion in northern China.
However, interpreting Wen's words and the mass protests in China's streets as simply nationalistic would miss the point. Rather, as the leaders well know, accumulated social discontent with a regime seen by many as externally weak and internally corrupt has found expression in maritime disputes between China and its neighbours. Some of the signs used in the anti-Japan demonstrations address domestic policies: there were even a few forbidden ones, with reference to the crushed Chongqing model. Many protesters carry Mao's portrait. Voices from the top and bottom of Chinese society have coincided here to call for a return to common sense.
Wen, by reputation the most "liberal" among the party's political factions, was speaking about the need to honour modern China's roots in the epic liberation struggle of the Chinese people. In the eyes of ordinary Chinese, the People's Republic has moved far from its founding promises of popular power and wellbeing, "rising" through hyper-growth, frenzied urbanisation and single-minded global integration, with grave moral, social and environmental costs: losing its soul while expanding economically.
Continuities and ruptures are both evident in a comparison of the Maoist and post-Mao eras. Deng Xiaoping, who belonged to the first communist generation, led China's market transition immediately after the cultural revolution. The 1980s saw general living standards rise and 400 million peasants lifted out of poverty. Despite such pragmatic slogans as "getting rich first", Deng warned against the danger of income polarisation:
"If we allow the millionaires to emerge one day, our reform project would fail."
Yet, by a powerful market logic, and in the absence of determined political intervention, China did produce millionaires and later even billionaires. It became one of the world's most unequal societies. Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang, handpicked by Deng as successive party general secretaries, loyally carried out the Dengist programme of "reform and opening". They were still idealistic communists in their respective ways and did not survive the events around the upheavals in Tiananmen Square in 1989. However, many subsequent policies, such as the integration of coastal China into the global economy and export-led growth, were set in motion.
Instead of tackling the urgent problems of corruption and rising social insecurity that contributed to the Tiananmen upheavals, the Jiang Zemin-Zhu Rongji leadership selected by Deng radicalised an initially socialist reform of self-adjustment. After the post-1992 resumption of "development as the absolute principle" (Deng), they pushed for industrial privatisation, introduced stock and real estate markets, and negotiated China's accession into the World Trade Organisation with excessive concessions. Jiang also paved the way for the Communist party to change colour. As 40 million urban workers were laid off and rural communal management collapsed, the second reform phase turned out to be an all-out neoliberal adventure.
Since then the astonishing wealth and lifestyles of some cadres and families have become common knowledge. Officials keeping overseas bank accounts, or fleeing the country with bags of cash, fuelled popular indignation and political cynicism.
It was hoped that Hu Jintao, the president, and Wen – appointed with Deng's approval – would clean up the mess. They proposed a "scientific conception of development" and a platform of people-first social policies, removing agricultural taxes and school fees for compulsory education, and working on rebuilding public medicine and social security. However, they also forced property laws on the legislature to legitimise privatisation, and stuck to a GDP-centered strategy. China is trapped in the developmentalist predicament of exploitative cheap labour, undue energy consumption, heavy pollution and foreign trade dependency. With an excess surplus capital, China's outgoing investments have also run into difficulties and tensions abroad.
During Hu and Wen's tenure – like that of their reformist predecessors – market supremacy has relied on state sponsorship or imposition, at times violently. Senseless commercialisation in Tibet and Xinjiang, with intended and unintended social, cultural and demographic consequences, caused deadly clashes.
With hopes for the third "reform decade" dashed, China's vulnerable feel the pain: the land-losing peasants; the struggling migrants and the children and elderly and sick people they left behind; and, in the end, angry strikers, petitioners and protesters. As the economy falls into a slump, the government seems to have followed every step of recent World Bank recommendations. In this month's Apec summit, Hu reaffirmed China's commitment to further trade and financial liberalisation.
China's post-Deng power transitions have so far been largely smooth. The processes have been modernised, with more extensive voting opportunities and consultation. The leaders at all levels have become younger and better educated, but the system still hinders able, independent candidates, and tends to promote the mediocre and obedient.
Due to the fall of Bo Xilai in the Chongqing crisis, we already know that there will be no seamless power transition this year. The unexplained absence of Xi Jinping only added to the uncertainty. The total secrecy of politics at the top hurts the system itself by showing its lack of self-confidence and a deep distrust of citizens. This will have to be addressed by the new leaders.
As things stand, it is difficult to anticipate any decisive change in China's political economy. Yet there are multiple factors at work: the logic of the market and the logic of bureaucracy – but ultimately also the logic of politics. Xi and Li Keqiang, the assigned premier, have been appointed through rounds of internal elections and negotiations. They should be aware of popular demands, and social movements, and become committed to political transparency and, indeed, democracy.
And we may also expect them to tackle corruption, so as to rescue the regime for their own survival. They could begin with publicising the earnings and family incomes of national leaders and highly placed officials. They need also to revert to the minimal communist ethic of serving the people.
• This article was amended at 10.30pm (UK time) on 17 September, after a partially edited version was published in error
Related
3 May 2012
Chen Guangcheng: 'I want to leave China as soon as possible' - video
20 Mar 2009
Chinese detain soldier who spoke out against Tiananmen Square massacre
23 Jan 2011
Hu Jintao's visit: the story the media missed
21 Apr 2006
Protester gatecrashes Hu visit as China and US fail to make progress
Posted for fair use....
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/17/rage-elite-stolen-chinas-soul
Rage at an elite that has stolen China's soul
Behind the current wave of nationalistic fervour is ordinary Chinese people's anger at a cynical and corrupt regime
Share 28
Chun Lin
Lin Chun
guardian.co.uk, Monday 17 September 2012 14.35 EDT
Jump to comments (91)
Demonstrators outside the Japanese embassy in Beijing
Demonstrators outside the Japanese embassy in Beijing as the row over the Senkaku islands, known as Diaoyu in China, escalates. Photograph: David Gray/Reuters
The 36th anniversary of Mao's death, a little over a week ago, was met by official silence – but spontaneous commemorations across China, including a long queue outside the Mao Memorial Hall in Tiananmen Square.
The next day, Wen Jiabao, the premier, spoke at a ceremony to unveil statues of Zhou Enlai, the first premier of the People's Republic, and Chen Yi, who took over as foreign minister from Zhou. He said: "Old China was totally humiliated, its territories were fragmented … The older generation of revolutionaries like Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and Chen Yi founded the People's Republic and ended a hundred years of humiliation in our recent national history, laying the foundation of new China's foreign relations. We must for ever remember their magnificent achievements, and study, carry on and develop their intellectual and spiritual qualities".
The day after that speech the Japanese government signed a deal to begin to "nationalise" the Senkaku islands, known as Diaoyu in China. The Chinese government strongly objected, and sent surveillance ships to the disputed waters. Popular feelings also ran high: anti-Japan demonstrations have spread across China, including Hong Kong. Taiwan's veteran "defending Diaoyu movement" has been boosted by implicit official support. Larger mass rallies could occur on Tuesday, the anniversary of the 1931 Japanese invasion in northern China.
However, interpreting Wen's words and the mass protests in China's streets as simply nationalistic would miss the point. Rather, as the leaders well know, accumulated social discontent with a regime seen by many as externally weak and internally corrupt has found expression in maritime disputes between China and its neighbours. Some of the signs used in the anti-Japan demonstrations address domestic policies: there were even a few forbidden ones, with reference to the crushed Chongqing model. Many protesters carry Mao's portrait. Voices from the top and bottom of Chinese society have coincided here to call for a return to common sense.
Wen, by reputation the most "liberal" among the party's political factions, was speaking about the need to honour modern China's roots in the epic liberation struggle of the Chinese people. In the eyes of ordinary Chinese, the People's Republic has moved far from its founding promises of popular power and wellbeing, "rising" through hyper-growth, frenzied urbanisation and single-minded global integration, with grave moral, social and environmental costs: losing its soul while expanding economically.
Continuities and ruptures are both evident in a comparison of the Maoist and post-Mao eras. Deng Xiaoping, who belonged to the first communist generation, led China's market transition immediately after the cultural revolution. The 1980s saw general living standards rise and 400 million peasants lifted out of poverty. Despite such pragmatic slogans as "getting rich first", Deng warned against the danger of income polarisation:
"If we allow the millionaires to emerge one day, our reform project would fail."
Yet, by a powerful market logic, and in the absence of determined political intervention, China did produce millionaires and later even billionaires. It became one of the world's most unequal societies. Hu Yaobang and Zhao Ziyang, handpicked by Deng as successive party general secretaries, loyally carried out the Dengist programme of "reform and opening". They were still idealistic communists in their respective ways and did not survive the events around the upheavals in Tiananmen Square in 1989. However, many subsequent policies, such as the integration of coastal China into the global economy and export-led growth, were set in motion.
Instead of tackling the urgent problems of corruption and rising social insecurity that contributed to the Tiananmen upheavals, the Jiang Zemin-Zhu Rongji leadership selected by Deng radicalised an initially socialist reform of self-adjustment. After the post-1992 resumption of "development as the absolute principle" (Deng), they pushed for industrial privatisation, introduced stock and real estate markets, and negotiated China's accession into the World Trade Organisation with excessive concessions. Jiang also paved the way for the Communist party to change colour. As 40 million urban workers were laid off and rural communal management collapsed, the second reform phase turned out to be an all-out neoliberal adventure.
Since then the astonishing wealth and lifestyles of some cadres and families have become common knowledge. Officials keeping overseas bank accounts, or fleeing the country with bags of cash, fuelled popular indignation and political cynicism.
It was hoped that Hu Jintao, the president, and Wen – appointed with Deng's approval – would clean up the mess. They proposed a "scientific conception of development" and a platform of people-first social policies, removing agricultural taxes and school fees for compulsory education, and working on rebuilding public medicine and social security. However, they also forced property laws on the legislature to legitimise privatisation, and stuck to a GDP-centered strategy. China is trapped in the developmentalist predicament of exploitative cheap labour, undue energy consumption, heavy pollution and foreign trade dependency. With an excess surplus capital, China's outgoing investments have also run into difficulties and tensions abroad.
During Hu and Wen's tenure – like that of their reformist predecessors – market supremacy has relied on state sponsorship or imposition, at times violently. Senseless commercialisation in Tibet and Xinjiang, with intended and unintended social, cultural and demographic consequences, caused deadly clashes.
With hopes for the third "reform decade" dashed, China's vulnerable feel the pain: the land-losing peasants; the struggling migrants and the children and elderly and sick people they left behind; and, in the end, angry strikers, petitioners and protesters. As the economy falls into a slump, the government seems to have followed every step of recent World Bank recommendations. In this month's Apec summit, Hu reaffirmed China's commitment to further trade and financial liberalisation.
China's post-Deng power transitions have so far been largely smooth. The processes have been modernised, with more extensive voting opportunities and consultation. The leaders at all levels have become younger and better educated, but the system still hinders able, independent candidates, and tends to promote the mediocre and obedient.
Due to the fall of Bo Xilai in the Chongqing crisis, we already know that there will be no seamless power transition this year. The unexplained absence of Xi Jinping only added to the uncertainty. The total secrecy of politics at the top hurts the system itself by showing its lack of self-confidence and a deep distrust of citizens. This will have to be addressed by the new leaders.
As things stand, it is difficult to anticipate any decisive change in China's political economy. Yet there are multiple factors at work: the logic of the market and the logic of bureaucracy – but ultimately also the logic of politics. Xi and Li Keqiang, the assigned premier, have been appointed through rounds of internal elections and negotiations. They should be aware of popular demands, and social movements, and become committed to political transparency and, indeed, democracy.
And we may also expect them to tackle corruption, so as to rescue the regime for their own survival. They could begin with publicising the earnings and family incomes of national leaders and highly placed officials. They need also to revert to the minimal communist ethic of serving the people.
• This article was amended at 10.30pm (UK time) on 17 September, after a partially edited version was published in error
Related
3 May 2012
Chen Guangcheng: 'I want to leave China as soon as possible' - video
20 Mar 2009
Chinese detain soldier who spoke out against Tiananmen Square massacre
23 Jan 2011
Hu Jintao's visit: the story the media missed
21 Apr 2006
Protester gatecrashes Hu visit as China and US fail to make progress
MC2006
Veteran Member
We all know that the global economy is reeling from crisis to crisis, continually threatening to collapse under the weight of sovereign debts, non-existent collateral and monetary expansion. We've been wondering which domino will be the first to fall and set off a chain reaction, with most attention focused on Europe and the USA. But Japan is in trouble too - has been for a long time now - and the earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown last year hardly helped matters. What if this standoff with China is the last straw?
Quote:
China smashes Japanese cars, and buys them
THERE likely won't be any quick resolution in the dispute between China and Japan for control of an obscure group of islands. But there's already one clear loser: the Japanese car industry.
Thousands of Chinese protesters marching on the Japanese Embassy in Beijing over the weekend, burning flags and smashing cars, signals the strength of anti-Japanese feeling among young Chinese. The proximate cause is a dispute over control of the Senkaku Islands, controlled by Japan and claimed by China, which call them the Diaoyu Islands. Lingering anger at Japan's 1930s invasion of China, and rivalry between Asian powers, runs deeper.
In the immediate future, it's bad news for Japanese car manufacturers, who already count China as a major market and a driver of future growth. Toyota, Nissan and Honda saw 11 per cent, 17 per cent and 20 per cent of their 2011 unit sales from China, according to Bill Russo, China auto analyst at Synergistics.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/busi...-1226476264107
Quote:
China-Japan island row could hurt 'more than 2011 earthquake'
*Growing concerns over the future of trade relations between China and Japan pushed down Japanese shares on Tuesday. Nissan, the biggest Japanese car maker by sales in China, fell by 5.2%, showing the weakest performance since May, in Tokyo trading. Honda fell as much as 3%, while Fast Retailing, which operates Uniqlo apparel shops dropped 5.9%, to the lowest level since June 5.
“The escalating dispute is adding one more layer of uncertainty,” said Liu Li-Gang, a Hong Kong-based economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ), told Bloomberg. “Japan is now more reliant on China for economic growth than vice versa. Its already weak economic recovery may falter. China will suffer less.”
Meanwhile the China Automobile Dealers Association has warned the protests will hurt sellers of Toyota, Nissan and Honda cars in China more than Japan’s March 2011 earthquake. Many showrooms in China selling Japanese cars have closed after some outlets were attacked by protesters, said Luo Lei, deputy secretary general of the Association.
On Monday a number of major Japanese companies announced factory shutdowns and closed shops in China in the days before a possible fresh round of anti-Japanese protests. Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co and Nissan Motor Co. halted production at some plants, while electronics major Panasonic said one of its plants had been sabotaged by Chinese workers and would remain closed through Tuesday.
http://rt.com/business/news/china-ja...arthquake-382/
Quote:
Why the latest row between China and Japan is a nightmare for the tech industry
By Willard Foxton September 18th, 2012
In Baotao, inner Mongolia, a huge mine works day and night. Workers in chemical suits hose acid into tunnels. Huge posters bearing images of smiling workers proclaim "Become the leader in Rare Earth mining!" as huge refineries and factories belch smoke into the sky. Yet this huge centrally planned project is in danger because of events thousands of miles away.
...
Regardless of silly orientalist ideas about "losing face", a quick glance at a map reveals why the governments care about these rocks. The islands are mid-way between Japan and Taiwan; a Chinese base there would push the range of carrier-killing ballistic missiles an extra four or five hundred miles into the Pacific.
The Chinese government has issued threatening statements, and the Japanese government has threatened right back, ominously declaring they had US support for nationalising the islands. Currently, Chinese and Japanese gunboats are steaming towards the islands and everyone in the Pacific is holding their breath. However, you may be asking why you, or the mine workers at Baotao, should care. After all, it is unlikely to come to a shooting war.
The mines at Baotao have slowed production in the light of the Diaoyou situation; they provide around 99 per cent of the world's supply of rare earths. Indeed, the Chinese government has explicitly stated it will not allow the shipping of these rare earths to Japan, which currently consumes around 60 per cent of Baotao's output.
Those rare earths, shipped from Mongolia to Japan, go into practically every gadget we buy or make. Almost every flatscreen TV, every mobile phone, everything that requires memory, requires parts made in Japan with Chinese minerals. The Japanese can't switch suppliers, buy the elements from somewhere else for more money. No rare earths, no manufacturing.
It's not just the gadget industry either. In news that will delight my colleague James Delingpole, the renewables industry is also dependant on the mines of Baotao. You can't make a Prius battery or a wind turbine magnet without Neodymium mined there and machined in Japan.
The Japanese have been aware of this nightmare scenario for some time; indeed, they've invested in sci-fi schemes such as underwater rare earth mining to try to wean themselves off their dependence on Chinese minerals. Unfortunately, the crisis has blown up before these projects could bear fruit.
If the crisis around the Senkakus, there will be huge consequences for all of us, as supply chains all over the world break at the Japanese link. For all our sakes, let's hope this dispute is resolved quickly.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technol...tech-industry/
Moreover (and this is getting speculative), what if the purchase of the islands, which are apparently covered in the US-Japan mutual defence treaty, was a deliberate move to provoke China into economic warfare? If the leadership in Japan can blame China for an economic collapse, rather than pre-existing internal problems, the recovery would probably be simpler. They may have information suggesting a collapse is inevitable anyway, so they have nothing to lose - and perhaps something to gain - by inciting economic warfare with China. They may know something about Fukushima that we don't. They may also be thinking that a real war, hot or cold, may benefit the economy, the country and themselves more than peace would at this point. I'm reminded of one of the Tom Clancy novels, where an attack on the Japanese car industry became a pretext for war. Perhaps someone in Japan read it too.
The world was already looking nervously at China's 'Peaceful Rise', and its own efforts to claim the entire South China Sea haven't helped matters. If Japan can take advantage of that nervousness and force a stronger stance against China, their ancient rivals, they can a) forcibly wean themselves and the rest of the world off cheap Chinese imports, benefiting their own export industry in the process, b) encourage a faster recovery in their own economy than if they allowed the current decline to continue, a hard reset as it were; and c) eventually establish themselves as a greater power in both Asia and in world affairs.
Japan has been living on the edge for a long time, with few resources of its own - except a large, hardworking population - hugely reliant on both imports and exports to keep their economy functioning. Increasing transport costs affect both, and a shooting war in Iran, which is looking more likely, is likely to send oil prices up even further. I don't think the Japanese economy can take many more hits. If this row over the Senkaku Islands really screws up the trade links between China and Japan, it seems very possible that Japan's economic domino could topple. Whether the repercussions remain in the economic sphere or not, they'll probably be widespread. Japan is in a pretty tight corner right now, and people in tight corners tend to react in ways that are unpredictable.
Any thoughts?
Quote:
China smashes Japanese cars, and buys them
THERE likely won't be any quick resolution in the dispute between China and Japan for control of an obscure group of islands. But there's already one clear loser: the Japanese car industry.
Thousands of Chinese protesters marching on the Japanese Embassy in Beijing over the weekend, burning flags and smashing cars, signals the strength of anti-Japanese feeling among young Chinese. The proximate cause is a dispute over control of the Senkaku Islands, controlled by Japan and claimed by China, which call them the Diaoyu Islands. Lingering anger at Japan's 1930s invasion of China, and rivalry between Asian powers, runs deeper.
In the immediate future, it's bad news for Japanese car manufacturers, who already count China as a major market and a driver of future growth. Toyota, Nissan and Honda saw 11 per cent, 17 per cent and 20 per cent of their 2011 unit sales from China, according to Bill Russo, China auto analyst at Synergistics.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/busi...-1226476264107
Quote:
China-Japan island row could hurt 'more than 2011 earthquake'
*Growing concerns over the future of trade relations between China and Japan pushed down Japanese shares on Tuesday. Nissan, the biggest Japanese car maker by sales in China, fell by 5.2%, showing the weakest performance since May, in Tokyo trading. Honda fell as much as 3%, while Fast Retailing, which operates Uniqlo apparel shops dropped 5.9%, to the lowest level since June 5.
“The escalating dispute is adding one more layer of uncertainty,” said Liu Li-Gang, a Hong Kong-based economist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. (ANZ), told Bloomberg. “Japan is now more reliant on China for economic growth than vice versa. Its already weak economic recovery may falter. China will suffer less.”
Meanwhile the China Automobile Dealers Association has warned the protests will hurt sellers of Toyota, Nissan and Honda cars in China more than Japan’s March 2011 earthquake. Many showrooms in China selling Japanese cars have closed after some outlets were attacked by protesters, said Luo Lei, deputy secretary general of the Association.
On Monday a number of major Japanese companies announced factory shutdowns and closed shops in China in the days before a possible fresh round of anti-Japanese protests. Toyota Motor Corp., Honda Motor Co and Nissan Motor Co. halted production at some plants, while electronics major Panasonic said one of its plants had been sabotaged by Chinese workers and would remain closed through Tuesday.
http://rt.com/business/news/china-ja...arthquake-382/
Quote:
Why the latest row between China and Japan is a nightmare for the tech industry
By Willard Foxton September 18th, 2012
In Baotao, inner Mongolia, a huge mine works day and night. Workers in chemical suits hose acid into tunnels. Huge posters bearing images of smiling workers proclaim "Become the leader in Rare Earth mining!" as huge refineries and factories belch smoke into the sky. Yet this huge centrally planned project is in danger because of events thousands of miles away.
...
Regardless of silly orientalist ideas about "losing face", a quick glance at a map reveals why the governments care about these rocks. The islands are mid-way between Japan and Taiwan; a Chinese base there would push the range of carrier-killing ballistic missiles an extra four or five hundred miles into the Pacific.
The Chinese government has issued threatening statements, and the Japanese government has threatened right back, ominously declaring they had US support for nationalising the islands. Currently, Chinese and Japanese gunboats are steaming towards the islands and everyone in the Pacific is holding their breath. However, you may be asking why you, or the mine workers at Baotao, should care. After all, it is unlikely to come to a shooting war.
The mines at Baotao have slowed production in the light of the Diaoyou situation; they provide around 99 per cent of the world's supply of rare earths. Indeed, the Chinese government has explicitly stated it will not allow the shipping of these rare earths to Japan, which currently consumes around 60 per cent of Baotao's output.
Those rare earths, shipped from Mongolia to Japan, go into practically every gadget we buy or make. Almost every flatscreen TV, every mobile phone, everything that requires memory, requires parts made in Japan with Chinese minerals. The Japanese can't switch suppliers, buy the elements from somewhere else for more money. No rare earths, no manufacturing.
It's not just the gadget industry either. In news that will delight my colleague James Delingpole, the renewables industry is also dependant on the mines of Baotao. You can't make a Prius battery or a wind turbine magnet without Neodymium mined there and machined in Japan.
The Japanese have been aware of this nightmare scenario for some time; indeed, they've invested in sci-fi schemes such as underwater rare earth mining to try to wean themselves off their dependence on Chinese minerals. Unfortunately, the crisis has blown up before these projects could bear fruit.
If the crisis around the Senkakus, there will be huge consequences for all of us, as supply chains all over the world break at the Japanese link. For all our sakes, let's hope this dispute is resolved quickly.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technol...tech-industry/
Moreover (and this is getting speculative), what if the purchase of the islands, which are apparently covered in the US-Japan mutual defence treaty, was a deliberate move to provoke China into economic warfare? If the leadership in Japan can blame China for an economic collapse, rather than pre-existing internal problems, the recovery would probably be simpler. They may have information suggesting a collapse is inevitable anyway, so they have nothing to lose - and perhaps something to gain - by inciting economic warfare with China. They may know something about Fukushima that we don't. They may also be thinking that a real war, hot or cold, may benefit the economy, the country and themselves more than peace would at this point. I'm reminded of one of the Tom Clancy novels, where an attack on the Japanese car industry became a pretext for war. Perhaps someone in Japan read it too.
The world was already looking nervously at China's 'Peaceful Rise', and its own efforts to claim the entire South China Sea haven't helped matters. If Japan can take advantage of that nervousness and force a stronger stance against China, their ancient rivals, they can a) forcibly wean themselves and the rest of the world off cheap Chinese imports, benefiting their own export industry in the process, b) encourage a faster recovery in their own economy than if they allowed the current decline to continue, a hard reset as it were; and c) eventually establish themselves as a greater power in both Asia and in world affairs.
Japan has been living on the edge for a long time, with few resources of its own - except a large, hardworking population - hugely reliant on both imports and exports to keep their economy functioning. Increasing transport costs affect both, and a shooting war in Iran, which is looking more likely, is likely to send oil prices up even further. I don't think the Japanese economy can take many more hits. If this row over the Senkaku Islands really screws up the trade links between China and Japan, it seems very possible that Japan's economic domino could topple. Whether the repercussions remain in the economic sphere or not, they'll probably be widespread. Japan is in a pretty tight corner right now, and people in tight corners tend to react in ways that are unpredictable.
Any thoughts?
MC2006
Veteran Member
China's newspaper has hinted that Japan's economy could suffer for up to 20 years, if Beijing choses to impose sanctions over a territorial dispute.
Anti-Japan protests have been held across China in recent days after Japan announced it was buying the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.
A report in the People's Daily newspaper said the Japanese economy has already experienced two lost decades from the 1990s and was suffering further weakness in the aftermath of the global financial crisis and 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
"Japan's economy lacks immunity to Chinese economic measures," the report in the newspaper said, although it added that given the interdependency of the two, sanctions would be a "double-edged sword" for China.
According to the Japan Times, the report, which appeared only in the paper's overseas edition, said Beijing in principle opposes economic sanctions to solve international disputes and would have to weigh carefully any decision to impose them.
It, however, added that 'amidst a struggle that touches on territorial sovereignty, if Japan continues its provocations China will inevitably take on the fight'.
The newspaper report said possible targets would include Japan's manufacturing and financial industries, exports and investments in China as well as 'strategic material imports', an apparent reference to rare earth metals used in many high-tech products.
"Would Japan rather lose another 10 years and even be ready to fall back 20 years?" it asked.
China and Japan have close trade and business ties, but the political relationship is often tense due to the territorial dispute and Chinese resentment over historical issues.
Numerous Japanese companies invest in China, and two-way trade totaled 342.9 billion dollars last year, making Japan China's fourth-largest trade partner, according to Chinese official data.
http://www.chinanews.net/index.php/s...slands-dispute
Anti-Japan protests have been held across China in recent days after Japan announced it was buying the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.
A report in the People's Daily newspaper said the Japanese economy has already experienced two lost decades from the 1990s and was suffering further weakness in the aftermath of the global financial crisis and 2011 earthquake and tsunami.
"Japan's economy lacks immunity to Chinese economic measures," the report in the newspaper said, although it added that given the interdependency of the two, sanctions would be a "double-edged sword" for China.
According to the Japan Times, the report, which appeared only in the paper's overseas edition, said Beijing in principle opposes economic sanctions to solve international disputes and would have to weigh carefully any decision to impose them.
It, however, added that 'amidst a struggle that touches on territorial sovereignty, if Japan continues its provocations China will inevitably take on the fight'.
The newspaper report said possible targets would include Japan's manufacturing and financial industries, exports and investments in China as well as 'strategic material imports', an apparent reference to rare earth metals used in many high-tech products.
"Would Japan rather lose another 10 years and even be ready to fall back 20 years?" it asked.
China and Japan have close trade and business ties, but the political relationship is often tense due to the territorial dispute and Chinese resentment over historical issues.
Numerous Japanese companies invest in China, and two-way trade totaled 342.9 billion dollars last year, making Japan China's fourth-largest trade partner, according to Chinese official data.
http://www.chinanews.net/index.php/s...slands-dispute
MC2006
Veteran Member
Shop and factory closures aside, the Japanese airline All Nippon Airways reported more than 18,000 cancellations from passengers in the coming weeks, most for flights from China.
While there have been no reports of violence against Japanese citizens, some expatriates voiced concern about their safety. Many stayed home on Tuesday on the advice of their employers and the Japanese government.
But Mutsuko Takebayashi, a housewife living in Shanghai, said she had already booked a ticket home. "It's possible that Japanese companies will start evacuating families back home and if that happens it'll be too late to book tickets," she told Reuters. "That's why I'm going back today."
There are no signs at this stage that Japanese companies are preparing to withdraw from China, although analysts say they may reconsider future investments there.
China is Japan's single biggest trading partner, with bilateral trade worth a record $345bn (£213bn) last year.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012...?newsfeed=true
While there have been no reports of violence against Japanese citizens, some expatriates voiced concern about their safety. Many stayed home on Tuesday on the advice of their employers and the Japanese government.
But Mutsuko Takebayashi, a housewife living in Shanghai, said she had already booked a ticket home. "It's possible that Japanese companies will start evacuating families back home and if that happens it'll be too late to book tickets," she told Reuters. "That's why I'm going back today."
There are no signs at this stage that Japanese companies are preparing to withdraw from China, although analysts say they may reconsider future investments there.
China is Japan's single biggest trading partner, with bilateral trade worth a record $345bn (£213bn) last year.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012...?newsfeed=true
MC2006
Veteran Member
From Dutch's Winds of War thread .......
=
Japan
11 Chinese ships near disputed isles
September 18, 2012 02:52 PM
By Miwa Suzuki
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Int...#axzz26pO4jCwv
TOKYO: Three state-owned Chinese ships entered territorial waters around Japanese-administered islands Tuesday, Japan's coastguard said, as tensions between the two Asian powers escalated.
A total of 11 Chinese vessels, 10 of them marine surveillance ships, sailed into an area known under international maritime law as the contiguous zone, in a move that came as fresh anti-Japan protests rocked Chinese cities.
Three of the surveillance ships entered territorial waters around one of the islands between 5:20 pm (0820 GMT) and 6:02 pm (0902 GMT), the Japan Coast Guard said in a statement.
The 10 surveillance ships "continued sailing in a fleet along the territorial boundary counter-clockwise" off Uotsurijima, the largest island in the Senkakus, a chain China calls Diaoyu.
A Chinese fisheries patrol boat was also seen sailing near the island.
Earlier in the day, Japan's top government spokesman said two Japanese people had swum to Uotsurijima.
"Two Japanese landed on Uotsurijima at about 9:30 am (0030 GMT)," Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told reporters. "The coastguard said they have already left," he said.
Jiji Press, citing police in Okinawa, said the two were from Japan's main southern island of Kyushu.
They arrived in the area in a small boat and swam to the island, a spokesman at the coastguard in Okinawa said, adding they were back in their boat shortly afterwards.
The landing was the fourth by Japanese this year and came weeks after seven pro-Beijing activists made it ashore on the same island, marking a sharp downturn in relations between two of the world's biggest economies.
The fisheries patrol later moved close to another island, Kubajima, in the chain.
"Our patrol vessels are warning it not to enter our country's territorial waters by radio and other means," the coastguard said in a statement.
The ship had told Japanese vessels that it was "carrying out legitimate activity", arguing the islands are Chinese sovereign territory.
Widespread anti-Japanese protests, some of them violent, have erupted across China in recent days over the East China Sea islands, which lie in rich fishing waters and on important shipping lanes.
Major Japanese firms, including Canon and Honda have suspended operations at several plants in China, according to officials and reports Monday.
After meetings in Tokyo with senior Japanese officials on Monday, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta -- who later travelled on to Beijing -- urged "calm and restraint on all sides".
A fresh wave of anti-Japan rallies was in progress Tuesday, the anniversary of the 1931 "Mukden incident" that led to Japan's invasion of Manchuria, which is commemorated every year in China.
China and Japan have close economic and business ties, with two-way trade totalling $342.9 billion last year, according to Chinese figures.
But the two countries' political relationship is often tense due to the territorial dispute and Chinese resentment over past conflicts and atrocities.
A landing on the island by pro-Beijing nationalists in August marked the start of a sudden worsening of relations between China and Japan.
Tokyo announced last week it had bought three of the islands, which it administers, from their private Japanese landowner.
A Taiwanese politician said Tuesday a group of Taiwanese fishermen were planning to sail this week to the archipelago.
About 60 fishing boats each carrying five to six people are expected to head for the islands Saturday from a port in northeast Taiwan's Ilan county, said Lin Chi-shan, a co-organiser of the event and a member of Ilan county council.
Taiwan also claims the islands, which are uninhabited but strategically important.
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Int...#ixzz26pPLGAfn
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
=
Japan
11 Chinese ships near disputed isles
September 18, 2012 02:52 PM
By Miwa Suzuki
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Int...#axzz26pO4jCwv
TOKYO: Three state-owned Chinese ships entered territorial waters around Japanese-administered islands Tuesday, Japan's coastguard said, as tensions between the two Asian powers escalated.
A total of 11 Chinese vessels, 10 of them marine surveillance ships, sailed into an area known under international maritime law as the contiguous zone, in a move that came as fresh anti-Japan protests rocked Chinese cities.
Three of the surveillance ships entered territorial waters around one of the islands between 5:20 pm (0820 GMT) and 6:02 pm (0902 GMT), the Japan Coast Guard said in a statement.
The 10 surveillance ships "continued sailing in a fleet along the territorial boundary counter-clockwise" off Uotsurijima, the largest island in the Senkakus, a chain China calls Diaoyu.
A Chinese fisheries patrol boat was also seen sailing near the island.
Earlier in the day, Japan's top government spokesman said two Japanese people had swum to Uotsurijima.
"Two Japanese landed on Uotsurijima at about 9:30 am (0030 GMT)," Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told reporters. "The coastguard said they have already left," he said.
Jiji Press, citing police in Okinawa, said the two were from Japan's main southern island of Kyushu.
They arrived in the area in a small boat and swam to the island, a spokesman at the coastguard in Okinawa said, adding they were back in their boat shortly afterwards.
The landing was the fourth by Japanese this year and came weeks after seven pro-Beijing activists made it ashore on the same island, marking a sharp downturn in relations between two of the world's biggest economies.
The fisheries patrol later moved close to another island, Kubajima, in the chain.
"Our patrol vessels are warning it not to enter our country's territorial waters by radio and other means," the coastguard said in a statement.
The ship had told Japanese vessels that it was "carrying out legitimate activity", arguing the islands are Chinese sovereign territory.
Widespread anti-Japanese protests, some of them violent, have erupted across China in recent days over the East China Sea islands, which lie in rich fishing waters and on important shipping lanes.
Major Japanese firms, including Canon and Honda have suspended operations at several plants in China, according to officials and reports Monday.
After meetings in Tokyo with senior Japanese officials on Monday, US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta -- who later travelled on to Beijing -- urged "calm and restraint on all sides".
A fresh wave of anti-Japan rallies was in progress Tuesday, the anniversary of the 1931 "Mukden incident" that led to Japan's invasion of Manchuria, which is commemorated every year in China.
China and Japan have close economic and business ties, with two-way trade totalling $342.9 billion last year, according to Chinese figures.
But the two countries' political relationship is often tense due to the territorial dispute and Chinese resentment over past conflicts and atrocities.
A landing on the island by pro-Beijing nationalists in August marked the start of a sudden worsening of relations between China and Japan.
Tokyo announced last week it had bought three of the islands, which it administers, from their private Japanese landowner.
A Taiwanese politician said Tuesday a group of Taiwanese fishermen were planning to sail this week to the archipelago.
About 60 fishing boats each carrying five to six people are expected to head for the islands Saturday from a port in northeast Taiwan's Ilan county, said Lin Chi-shan, a co-organiser of the event and a member of Ilan county council.
Taiwan also claims the islands, which are uninhabited but strategically important.
Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Int...#ixzz26pPLGAfn
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)
Fisher
Has No Life - Lives on TB
CGTech
Has No Life - Lives on TB
Heh heh.. We are the Borg...
doctor_fungcool
TB Fanatic
http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/...on-Japan-and-sends-1-000-boat-flotilla?utm_so
World View: China Declares Economic War on Japan
Japan bolsters defenses as 1,000 Chinese fishing boats approach
The Japanese embassy in Beijing has suspended passport services and is bolstering its defenses around the Senkaku/Diayou islands, after media reports indicate that a flotilla of around 1,000 Chinese fishing boats was sailing towards them. Hundreds of Japanese businesses and the country's embassy suspended services in China on Tuesday, expecting further escalation in violent protests over a territorial dispute between Asia's two biggest economies. Reuters
China declares economic war on Japan
China is trying to hurt Japan economically, to gain leverage in its campaign to take control of the Senkaku/Diayou islands. In the 2010 confrontations, China took revenge on Japan by terminating shipments of rare earth minerals, needed for manufacturing of many of Japan's electronic products. In the current confrontation, the Beijing government is encouraging the Chinese people to demonstrate and protest against Japanese businesses in China. The government urged protesters not to use violence, but that part of the message is clearly not getting through. Protesters torched a Panasonic factory and Toyota dealership, looted and ransacked Japanese department stores and supermarkets in several cities. China's National Tourism Administration ordered travel companies last week to cancel tours to Japan over the weeklong National Day holiday in early October. AP and Bloomberg
Chinese Communist Party urges punitive sanctions against Japan
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is urging strong punitive sanctions against Japan, for its "well-orchestrated plan" to take control of the Senkaku/Diayou islands, according to the CCP's official newspaper:
The "nationalization" of the Diaoyu Islands by Japan after "purchasing" them from a "private owner" is ridiculous and cannot change the fact that they are Chinese territory. ... China should take strong countermeasures, especially economic sanctions, to respond to Japan's provocations. Military consideration, however, should be the last choice.
The United States has frequently used Article XXI Security Exceptions of the WTO (taken from the earlier General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) to impose economic sanctions on other countries. The security exception clause says a country cannot be stopped from taking any action it considers necessary to protect its security interests. That means a country can impose sanctions on enterprises, financial institutions, organizations and even other countries' central and local governments. Taking a cue from the US' practice, China can use the security exception clause to reduce the export of some important materials to Japan.
China didn't announce any sanctions against the Philippines in April, but it froze banana imports from that country in response to Manila's aggressive attitude in the Huangyan Island dispute. Though the economic countermeasure forced the Philippines on the back foot, it also harmed the interests of some Chinese enterprises.
So it is important for China to devise a sanction plan against Japan that would cause minimum loss to Chinese enterprises.
China Daily
Quote: 'There won't be a war because it's bad for business!'
How many times have people told me that Generational Dynamics is wrong about some geopolitical thing, saying, "There won't be a war because it's bad for business, and the business owners on both sides will make sure that there won't be a war." That whole concept is silly since, of course; if it were true then there never would be any wars.
But now you're seeing that in fact "bad for business" does not STOP war preparations, it PROPELS them. The fact that "business is good" between Japan and China does not mean there won't be a war; to the contrary, "business is good" only becomes an additional weapon to be used in the preliminaries. And as the quote above from China Daily notes, China has already used economic warfare against the Philippines of the Scarborough Shoal, some islands that are clearly the Philippines' sovereign territory. The Chinese aren't saying that a war would be bad for business. They're saying, let's use economic warfare, and if that doesn't work, then we'll use military warfare.
The Chinese always talk about how they want "harmonious relations" with everyone. What they mean by that is, "Relations will be harmonious as long as you do everything we demand, and give us everything we want. Otherwise, we'll kill you."
Should we defend Japan against China?
Some web site readers of my previous article had a a heated discussion over whether we should come to Japan's defense against China, in view of the horrific atrocities that the Japanese committed during World War II. Leading the "anti" side of the debate was someone from the Silent generation who experienced some of those atrocities.
I have two points to make. The first is something I've said before: The United States has no choice. The U.S. became Policeman of the World with the Truman Doctrine, put forth by President Harry Truman in 1947. Since then, we've signed defense treaties with numerous countries, and all of them would go into total panic if we repudiated our treaty with Japan.
The second is more generational. Once upon a time, the British and the colonists committed atrocities on one another. A little later, the North and South committed atrocities on one another. In WW II, Germany and Italy joined Japan as our enemies, while Russia was our friend. Since then, new generations have replaced all of those people. In some cases, the new generations decided they like us, and in other cases the new generations decided they hate us. New American generations are barely aware of the atrocities our enemies committed, and they're equally unaware of such things as the firebombing of Dresden or the nuking of Japan.
A generational crisis war transforms a country, gives the country a new character, and makes it a different country than it was before the crisis war. World War II transformed America completely, changing it from a laissez-faire economy to a heavily regulated economy, and from an isolationist nation to the Policemen of the World. Essentially, every nation starts from "square one" in the Recovery Era that follows a crisis war.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other disturbing events that happened overnight were:
1. The American ambassador's car was damaged by Chinese rioters.
2. China is thinking about dumping Japanese bonds.
3. We owe China a trillion and change. Are we going to repay them, or was the thought of a war always in the cards? Remember, the destruction of China by war, will
also cause the destruction of much of America's industry which was off shored there. This is a lose lose proposition for everyone concerned. We have little industry left.
What were THEY thinking? Oh, I know what they were thinking. They were thinking about the almighty dollar.
http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/3...webfeeds/e626a0745caf831a1b0f6a7067000643.jpg
This is a picture of Chinese rioters holding up a placard with Chairman Mao's picture.
World View: China Declares Economic War on Japan
Japan bolsters defenses as 1,000 Chinese fishing boats approach
The Japanese embassy in Beijing has suspended passport services and is bolstering its defenses around the Senkaku/Diayou islands, after media reports indicate that a flotilla of around 1,000 Chinese fishing boats was sailing towards them. Hundreds of Japanese businesses and the country's embassy suspended services in China on Tuesday, expecting further escalation in violent protests over a territorial dispute between Asia's two biggest economies. Reuters
China declares economic war on Japan
China is trying to hurt Japan economically, to gain leverage in its campaign to take control of the Senkaku/Diayou islands. In the 2010 confrontations, China took revenge on Japan by terminating shipments of rare earth minerals, needed for manufacturing of many of Japan's electronic products. In the current confrontation, the Beijing government is encouraging the Chinese people to demonstrate and protest against Japanese businesses in China. The government urged protesters not to use violence, but that part of the message is clearly not getting through. Protesters torched a Panasonic factory and Toyota dealership, looted and ransacked Japanese department stores and supermarkets in several cities. China's National Tourism Administration ordered travel companies last week to cancel tours to Japan over the weeklong National Day holiday in early October. AP and Bloomberg
Chinese Communist Party urges punitive sanctions against Japan
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is urging strong punitive sanctions against Japan, for its "well-orchestrated plan" to take control of the Senkaku/Diayou islands, according to the CCP's official newspaper:
The "nationalization" of the Diaoyu Islands by Japan after "purchasing" them from a "private owner" is ridiculous and cannot change the fact that they are Chinese territory. ... China should take strong countermeasures, especially economic sanctions, to respond to Japan's provocations. Military consideration, however, should be the last choice.
The United States has frequently used Article XXI Security Exceptions of the WTO (taken from the earlier General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade) to impose economic sanctions on other countries. The security exception clause says a country cannot be stopped from taking any action it considers necessary to protect its security interests. That means a country can impose sanctions on enterprises, financial institutions, organizations and even other countries' central and local governments. Taking a cue from the US' practice, China can use the security exception clause to reduce the export of some important materials to Japan.
China didn't announce any sanctions against the Philippines in April, but it froze banana imports from that country in response to Manila's aggressive attitude in the Huangyan Island dispute. Though the economic countermeasure forced the Philippines on the back foot, it also harmed the interests of some Chinese enterprises.
So it is important for China to devise a sanction plan against Japan that would cause minimum loss to Chinese enterprises.
China Daily
Quote: 'There won't be a war because it's bad for business!'
How many times have people told me that Generational Dynamics is wrong about some geopolitical thing, saying, "There won't be a war because it's bad for business, and the business owners on both sides will make sure that there won't be a war." That whole concept is silly since, of course; if it were true then there never would be any wars.
But now you're seeing that in fact "bad for business" does not STOP war preparations, it PROPELS them. The fact that "business is good" between Japan and China does not mean there won't be a war; to the contrary, "business is good" only becomes an additional weapon to be used in the preliminaries. And as the quote above from China Daily notes, China has already used economic warfare against the Philippines of the Scarborough Shoal, some islands that are clearly the Philippines' sovereign territory. The Chinese aren't saying that a war would be bad for business. They're saying, let's use economic warfare, and if that doesn't work, then we'll use military warfare.
The Chinese always talk about how they want "harmonious relations" with everyone. What they mean by that is, "Relations will be harmonious as long as you do everything we demand, and give us everything we want. Otherwise, we'll kill you."
Should we defend Japan against China?
Some web site readers of my previous article had a a heated discussion over whether we should come to Japan's defense against China, in view of the horrific atrocities that the Japanese committed during World War II. Leading the "anti" side of the debate was someone from the Silent generation who experienced some of those atrocities.
I have two points to make. The first is something I've said before: The United States has no choice. The U.S. became Policeman of the World with the Truman Doctrine, put forth by President Harry Truman in 1947. Since then, we've signed defense treaties with numerous countries, and all of them would go into total panic if we repudiated our treaty with Japan.
The second is more generational. Once upon a time, the British and the colonists committed atrocities on one another. A little later, the North and South committed atrocities on one another. In WW II, Germany and Italy joined Japan as our enemies, while Russia was our friend. Since then, new generations have replaced all of those people. In some cases, the new generations decided they like us, and in other cases the new generations decided they hate us. New American generations are barely aware of the atrocities our enemies committed, and they're equally unaware of such things as the firebombing of Dresden or the nuking of Japan.
A generational crisis war transforms a country, gives the country a new character, and makes it a different country than it was before the crisis war. World War II transformed America completely, changing it from a laissez-faire economy to a heavily regulated economy, and from an isolationist nation to the Policemen of the World. Essentially, every nation starts from "square one" in the Recovery Era that follows a crisis war.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Other disturbing events that happened overnight were:
1. The American ambassador's car was damaged by Chinese rioters.
2. China is thinking about dumping Japanese bonds.
3. We owe China a trillion and change. Are we going to repay them, or was the thought of a war always in the cards? Remember, the destruction of China by war, will
also cause the destruction of much of America's industry which was off shored there. This is a lose lose proposition for everyone concerned. We have little industry left.
What were THEY thinking? Oh, I know what they were thinking. They were thinking about the almighty dollar.
http://l3.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/3...webfeeds/e626a0745caf831a1b0f6a7067000643.jpg
This is a picture of Chinese rioters holding up a placard with Chairman Mao's picture.
Last edited:
doctor_fungcool
TB Fanatic
http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/2012/09/evil panda_0.gif
Bond Wars: Chinese Advisor Calls For Japanese Bond Dump
Earlier today we casually wondered whether the US stands to lose more by supporting China or Japan in their escalating diplomatic spat, considering the threat of a US Treasury sell off is certainly not negligible, a dilemma complicated by the fact that as today's TIC data indicated both nations own almost the same amount of US paper, just over $1.1 trillion. In a stunning turn of events, it appears that China has taken our thought experiment a step further and as the Telegraph's Ambrose Evans-Pritchard reports, based on a recommendation by Jin Baisong from the Chinese Academy of International Trade (a branch of the commerce ministry) China is actively considering "using its power as Japan’s biggest creditor with $230bn (£141bn) of bonds to "impose sanctions on Japan in the most effective manner" and bring Tokyo’s festering fiscal crisis to a head." I.e., dump Japan's bonds en masse.
Should this stunning recommendation be enacted, not only would it be the first time in world history that insurmountable credit is used as a weapon of retaliation, it would mark a clear phase transition in the evolution of modern warfare: from outright military incursions, to FX wars, to trade wars, culminating with "bond wars" which could in the span of minutes cripple the entire Japanese fiscal house of cards still standing solely due to the myth that unserviceable debt can be pushed off into perpetuity (as previously discussed here).
Not needing further explanation is the reality that should China commence a wholesale Japanese bond dump, it may well lead to that long anticipated Japanese bond market collapse, as creditor after creditor proceeds to sell into a market in which the BOJ is the buyer of only resort in the best case, and into a bidless market in the worst.
The immediate outcome would be soaring inflation as the BOJ is forced to monetize debt for dear life, buying up first hundreds of billions, then trillions in the secondary market to avoid a complete rout, matched by trillions of reserves created out of thin air which may or may not be halted by the Japanese deflationary gate, and which most certainly could waterfall into the economy especially if Japanese citizens take this as an all clear signal that the Japanese economy is about to be crippled in all out economic warfare with the most dangerous such opponent, and one which just defected from the "global insolvent creditor" game of Mutual Assured Destruction.
Further complicating things is that Japan has no clear means of retaliation: it owns no Chinese bonds of its own it can dump as a containment measure. Instead, Japan is at best left with the threat of damages incurred on the Chinese economy should Japan be lost as a trading parting. It appears, however, that to China such a gambit is no longer a major concern:
Mr Jin said China can afford to sacrifice its “low-value-added” exports to Japan at a small cost. By contrast, Japan relies on Chinese demand to keep its economy afloat and stave off “irreversible” decline.
“It’s clear that China can deal a heavy blow to the Japanese economy without hurting itself too much,” he said. It is unclear whether he was speaking with the full backing of the Politburo or whether sales of Japanese debt would do much damage. The Bank of Japan could counter the move with bond purchases. Any weakening of the yen would be welcome.
Yes, but any offsetting Japanese hyperinflation would not, which is precisely what would happen if after 30+ years of dormancy the Japanese bond vigilantes were woken up by none other than a cuddly Panda bear with very murderous intentions.
snip snip
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ask yourself why we no longer have a machine tool industry here in the U.S. (that industry has been for the most part off shored to China)
Ask yourself why most of our heavy industry has been off shored to China and other low cost producers.
Ask yourself why the only jobs left here in America have to do with servicing others?
Remember, when capitalism fails, the communist are always in the wings ready to fill the void.
The ponzi scheme that was the economic structure of the western world is now in shambles. What will replace it?
Hope and Change.....hope and change......... AND a redistribution of the national's wealth, from the bottom up....and from the top down.
In the meantime, where will we get all our replacement parts if China embargoes the U.S. or visa versa? This is a very big deal, since when one thinks through the ramifications of the China/U.S. relationship, then it's plain to see(in my opinion) they we face not only economic starvation, possible war, and societal problems, we face an enemy that may wish for our
total destruction.
NOTE: I don't know where all the ammunition if manufactured, but if it is manufactured in foreign countries like China, that would explain the massive purchases by DHS....especially
if TPTB know in advance that imports from many of these countries will soon be halted. JMHO, by the way....
My advice as to what to do if war breaks out? It's right here, in the video....because if the unthinkable happens, there will be no place to run or hide.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep7W89I_V_g
Bond Wars: Chinese Advisor Calls For Japanese Bond Dump
Earlier today we casually wondered whether the US stands to lose more by supporting China or Japan in their escalating diplomatic spat, considering the threat of a US Treasury sell off is certainly not negligible, a dilemma complicated by the fact that as today's TIC data indicated both nations own almost the same amount of US paper, just over $1.1 trillion. In a stunning turn of events, it appears that China has taken our thought experiment a step further and as the Telegraph's Ambrose Evans-Pritchard reports, based on a recommendation by Jin Baisong from the Chinese Academy of International Trade (a branch of the commerce ministry) China is actively considering "using its power as Japan’s biggest creditor with $230bn (£141bn) of bonds to "impose sanctions on Japan in the most effective manner" and bring Tokyo’s festering fiscal crisis to a head." I.e., dump Japan's bonds en masse.
Should this stunning recommendation be enacted, not only would it be the first time in world history that insurmountable credit is used as a weapon of retaliation, it would mark a clear phase transition in the evolution of modern warfare: from outright military incursions, to FX wars, to trade wars, culminating with "bond wars" which could in the span of minutes cripple the entire Japanese fiscal house of cards still standing solely due to the myth that unserviceable debt can be pushed off into perpetuity (as previously discussed here).
Not needing further explanation is the reality that should China commence a wholesale Japanese bond dump, it may well lead to that long anticipated Japanese bond market collapse, as creditor after creditor proceeds to sell into a market in which the BOJ is the buyer of only resort in the best case, and into a bidless market in the worst.
The immediate outcome would be soaring inflation as the BOJ is forced to monetize debt for dear life, buying up first hundreds of billions, then trillions in the secondary market to avoid a complete rout, matched by trillions of reserves created out of thin air which may or may not be halted by the Japanese deflationary gate, and which most certainly could waterfall into the economy especially if Japanese citizens take this as an all clear signal that the Japanese economy is about to be crippled in all out economic warfare with the most dangerous such opponent, and one which just defected from the "global insolvent creditor" game of Mutual Assured Destruction.
Further complicating things is that Japan has no clear means of retaliation: it owns no Chinese bonds of its own it can dump as a containment measure. Instead, Japan is at best left with the threat of damages incurred on the Chinese economy should Japan be lost as a trading parting. It appears, however, that to China such a gambit is no longer a major concern:
Mr Jin said China can afford to sacrifice its “low-value-added” exports to Japan at a small cost. By contrast, Japan relies on Chinese demand to keep its economy afloat and stave off “irreversible” decline.
“It’s clear that China can deal a heavy blow to the Japanese economy without hurting itself too much,” he said. It is unclear whether he was speaking with the full backing of the Politburo or whether sales of Japanese debt would do much damage. The Bank of Japan could counter the move with bond purchases. Any weakening of the yen would be welcome.
Yes, but any offsetting Japanese hyperinflation would not, which is precisely what would happen if after 30+ years of dormancy the Japanese bond vigilantes were woken up by none other than a cuddly Panda bear with very murderous intentions.
snip snip
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ask yourself why we no longer have a machine tool industry here in the U.S. (that industry has been for the most part off shored to China)
Ask yourself why most of our heavy industry has been off shored to China and other low cost producers.
Ask yourself why the only jobs left here in America have to do with servicing others?
Remember, when capitalism fails, the communist are always in the wings ready to fill the void.
The ponzi scheme that was the economic structure of the western world is now in shambles. What will replace it?
Hope and Change.....hope and change......... AND a redistribution of the national's wealth, from the bottom up....and from the top down.
In the meantime, where will we get all our replacement parts if China embargoes the U.S. or visa versa? This is a very big deal, since when one thinks through the ramifications of the China/U.S. relationship, then it's plain to see(in my opinion) they we face not only economic starvation, possible war, and societal problems, we face an enemy that may wish for our
total destruction.
NOTE: I don't know where all the ammunition if manufactured, but if it is manufactured in foreign countries like China, that would explain the massive purchases by DHS....especially
if TPTB know in advance that imports from many of these countries will soon be halted. JMHO, by the way....
My advice as to what to do if war breaks out? It's right here, in the video....because if the unthinkable happens, there will be no place to run or hide.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ep7W89I_V_g
Last edited:
Ronman2002
Contributing Member
ok, so the titlie to this thread put a picture in my head- 1 large tanker towing thousands of junks behind it enroute to the disputed islands- funny to me. can you see it?? haha. How else did they get there so quick.
MC2006
Veteran Member
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/opinion...t_15767137.htm
Japan has to change attitude
Japan has abandoned reason and ignored China's protests to "nationalize"
the Diaoyu Islands, which are an integral part of Chinese territory. Japanese
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has defended his government's decision,
saying the move is aimed at "long-term", steady and effective management"
of the islands which he claims to be Japanese territory.
Japan has also said that there is no territorial dispute with China over the
islands' sovereignty and that the "nationalization" is Japan's internal affair
and only a transfer of the islands' ownership from their "private owner" to
the government. This is Japan's blatant attempt to deny the agreement with
China over the Diaoyu Islands and a concrete step toward reinforcing its
illegal occupation of the islands.
Japan changed its attitude toward the islands when a Chinese fishing trawler
collided with two Japanese coast guard vessels in the waters off the Diaoyu
Islands in September 2010. This change in Japan's attitude came amid rising
nationalism in Japan and at a time when the country's post-World War II
politicians were struggling to adapt to China's increasing influence in the
world without any idea of how to establish a stable relationship with Beijing.
The two countries had a tacit agreement on "shelving the dispute" over the
Diaoyu Islands when bilateral diplomatic relations were normalized in 1972,
which Japan violated by saying that there is no dispute with China over the
Islands.
Historical documents prove that the Diaoyu Islands have been Chinese
territory for at least 600 years. Japan occupied the islands when it launched
its expansionist war in East Asia more than a century ago. After losing the
Sino-Japanese War in 1894-95, the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) ceded
Taiwan, including its subsidiary Diaoyu Islands, to Japan.
That was reversed by the Cairo Declaration and Potsdam Proclamation,
according to which Taiwan and its affiliated Diaoyu Islands were returned to
China at the end of World War II. Japan accepted the terms of these
documents, including the stipulation that "all the territories Japan has stolen
from the Chinese, such as Manchuria, Formosa (as Taiwan was called before
1945) and the Pescadores, shall be returned to the Republic of China".
The Diaoyu Islands became a complicated issue after the United States and
Japan signed a treaty in San Francisco in 1951, which China was not made a
party to and which China condemns as illegal. The treaty grouped the Diaoyu
Islands and other islets illegally with the Ryukyu Islands (called Okinawa in
Japan), which was then under the US' control. The Okinawa Reversion
Agreement the US and Japan signed in 1972 reverted the control of the
Diaoyu Islands, as part of the Ryukyu Islands, to Japan.
The US handed over the Ryukyu Islands to Japan to ensure that Washington
got Tokyo's long-term economic and military support to maintain its
permanent presence in East Asia and further its Asia-Pacific strategy.
But the US-Japan deal violated many post-World War II international
institutional arrangements and was an attempt to reverse the global
development trends. Also, it has left Sino-Japanese relations with a
complicated problem.
Some people in Japan and even the rest of the world with little knowledge of
the Diaoyu Islands' history believe that China's claim is based mainly on
historical documents. But the Diaoyu Islands issue, from Japan's occupation
more than 100 years ago to the US takeover to the illegal handing back to
Japan, is the result of Japan's invasion of China and US hegemony, as well
as American-Japanese attempt to partly overturn the results of Word War II.
It is also another attempt by Japan to re-occupy Chinese territory and
infringe on China's sovereignty.
Instead of correcting its wrongs, Japan has chosen to deny the existence of
a dispute over the Diaoyu Islands by "nationalizing" them. This is a farce
played out to mislead international opinion and change the fact that the
islands have been a part of China's territory for centuries. Such attempts are
doomed to fail.
In response to the "nationalization" of the Diaoyu Islands by Japan, China
has announced the delineation of the marine baselines of the islands and
their affiliated islets. Beijing has taken other countermeasures to make
people across the world know its principled stance on the Diaoyu Islands and
its indisputable sovereignty over them.
Japan's latest move on the Diaoyu Islands has angered the Chinese public.
The antagonistic sentiments among Chinese and Japanese peoples are
harming Sino-Japanese ties, which could freeze completely if Japan does not
change its attitude and repeal the "nationalization" of the Diaoyu Islands.
The Japanese government's wrong decision and Japanese right-wingers'
provocative actions have jeopardized the friendly exchanges and cooperation
that China and Japan enjoyed since normalization of their diplomatic ties.
Japan should remember that China and Japan "shelved disputes" four
decades ago, which enabled them to normalize their diplomatic ties. Though
it is impossible to resolve the Diaoyu Islands dispute overnight, China will
never step back from the challenge. Given their economic interdependence,
China and Japan have the common responsibility of maintaining stability and
promoting development in East Asia. In 2011, China-Japan trade reached
$344.9 billion. A trade war between the world's second largest and third
largest economies will not only create more uncertainties for the two
countries' economies, but also deal a blow to global economy that is striving
to avoid double recession.
The Chinese people are justified in expressing their patriotism in response to
the Japanese right-wringers' and government's provocations over the Diaoyu
Islands. But during protests in some cities in China over the past week,
some people turned violent and damaged some Japanese factories and
supermarkets, and broke Japanese brand cars that belonged to other
Chinese citizens. These acts are criminal and must be stopped. Patriotism is
no excuse for criminal offenses. Worse, such violence also hurts Chinese
people. If the factories and shops are closed, the sales of the goods, most of
which are made in China, will slump, and the tax revenue of the central and
local governments in China will also fall. More importantly, many Chinese
employees may lose jobs.
Only by expressing patriotism in a rational way can China get an upper hand
in the Diaoyu Islands dispute.
Japan will only harm itself by not following the agreement to "shelve
disputes" to work for a better future and not taking corrective measures to
prevent the crisis from spiraling out of control. It's high time the Japanese
government stopped provocations and returned to the negotiation table.
Japan has to change attitude
Japan has abandoned reason and ignored China's protests to "nationalize"
the Diaoyu Islands, which are an integral part of Chinese territory. Japanese
Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has defended his government's decision,
saying the move is aimed at "long-term", steady and effective management"
of the islands which he claims to be Japanese territory.
Japan has also said that there is no territorial dispute with China over the
islands' sovereignty and that the "nationalization" is Japan's internal affair
and only a transfer of the islands' ownership from their "private owner" to
the government. This is Japan's blatant attempt to deny the agreement with
China over the Diaoyu Islands and a concrete step toward reinforcing its
illegal occupation of the islands.
Japan changed its attitude toward the islands when a Chinese fishing trawler
collided with two Japanese coast guard vessels in the waters off the Diaoyu
Islands in September 2010. This change in Japan's attitude came amid rising
nationalism in Japan and at a time when the country's post-World War II
politicians were struggling to adapt to China's increasing influence in the
world without any idea of how to establish a stable relationship with Beijing.
The two countries had a tacit agreement on "shelving the dispute" over the
Diaoyu Islands when bilateral diplomatic relations were normalized in 1972,
which Japan violated by saying that there is no dispute with China over the
Islands.
Historical documents prove that the Diaoyu Islands have been Chinese
territory for at least 600 years. Japan occupied the islands when it launched
its expansionist war in East Asia more than a century ago. After losing the
Sino-Japanese War in 1894-95, the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) ceded
Taiwan, including its subsidiary Diaoyu Islands, to Japan.
That was reversed by the Cairo Declaration and Potsdam Proclamation,
according to which Taiwan and its affiliated Diaoyu Islands were returned to
China at the end of World War II. Japan accepted the terms of these
documents, including the stipulation that "all the territories Japan has stolen
from the Chinese, such as Manchuria, Formosa (as Taiwan was called before
1945) and the Pescadores, shall be returned to the Republic of China".
The Diaoyu Islands became a complicated issue after the United States and
Japan signed a treaty in San Francisco in 1951, which China was not made a
party to and which China condemns as illegal. The treaty grouped the Diaoyu
Islands and other islets illegally with the Ryukyu Islands (called Okinawa in
Japan), which was then under the US' control. The Okinawa Reversion
Agreement the US and Japan signed in 1972 reverted the control of the
Diaoyu Islands, as part of the Ryukyu Islands, to Japan.
The US handed over the Ryukyu Islands to Japan to ensure that Washington
got Tokyo's long-term economic and military support to maintain its
permanent presence in East Asia and further its Asia-Pacific strategy.
But the US-Japan deal violated many post-World War II international
institutional arrangements and was an attempt to reverse the global
development trends. Also, it has left Sino-Japanese relations with a
complicated problem.
Some people in Japan and even the rest of the world with little knowledge of
the Diaoyu Islands' history believe that China's claim is based mainly on
historical documents. But the Diaoyu Islands issue, from Japan's occupation
more than 100 years ago to the US takeover to the illegal handing back to
Japan, is the result of Japan's invasion of China and US hegemony, as well
as American-Japanese attempt to partly overturn the results of Word War II.
It is also another attempt by Japan to re-occupy Chinese territory and
infringe on China's sovereignty.
Instead of correcting its wrongs, Japan has chosen to deny the existence of
a dispute over the Diaoyu Islands by "nationalizing" them. This is a farce
played out to mislead international opinion and change the fact that the
islands have been a part of China's territory for centuries. Such attempts are
doomed to fail.
In response to the "nationalization" of the Diaoyu Islands by Japan, China
has announced the delineation of the marine baselines of the islands and
their affiliated islets. Beijing has taken other countermeasures to make
people across the world know its principled stance on the Diaoyu Islands and
its indisputable sovereignty over them.
Japan's latest move on the Diaoyu Islands has angered the Chinese public.
The antagonistic sentiments among Chinese and Japanese peoples are
harming Sino-Japanese ties, which could freeze completely if Japan does not
change its attitude and repeal the "nationalization" of the Diaoyu Islands.
The Japanese government's wrong decision and Japanese right-wingers'
provocative actions have jeopardized the friendly exchanges and cooperation
that China and Japan enjoyed since normalization of their diplomatic ties.
Japan should remember that China and Japan "shelved disputes" four
decades ago, which enabled them to normalize their diplomatic ties. Though
it is impossible to resolve the Diaoyu Islands dispute overnight, China will
never step back from the challenge. Given their economic interdependence,
China and Japan have the common responsibility of maintaining stability and
promoting development in East Asia. In 2011, China-Japan trade reached
$344.9 billion. A trade war between the world's second largest and third
largest economies will not only create more uncertainties for the two
countries' economies, but also deal a blow to global economy that is striving
to avoid double recession.
The Chinese people are justified in expressing their patriotism in response to
the Japanese right-wringers' and government's provocations over the Diaoyu
Islands. But during protests in some cities in China over the past week,
some people turned violent and damaged some Japanese factories and
supermarkets, and broke Japanese brand cars that belonged to other
Chinese citizens. These acts are criminal and must be stopped. Patriotism is
no excuse for criminal offenses. Worse, such violence also hurts Chinese
people. If the factories and shops are closed, the sales of the goods, most of
which are made in China, will slump, and the tax revenue of the central and
local governments in China will also fall. More importantly, many Chinese
employees may lose jobs.
Only by expressing patriotism in a rational way can China get an upper hand
in the Diaoyu Islands dispute.
Japan will only harm itself by not following the agreement to "shelve
disputes" to work for a better future and not taking corrective measures to
prevent the crisis from spiraling out of control. It's high time the Japanese
government stopped provocations and returned to the negotiation table.
Intestinal Fortitude
Have Faith
and then on to Australia and New Zealand!!!