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perebutan kuasa di LCS - update: Pesawat China ceroboh Senkaku
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Monday, October 01, 2012
Taiwanese rally against Japan over disputed islands
TAIPEI: Hundreds of Taiwanese rallied Sunday to press Taipei’s claim over disputed East China Sea islands at the centre of a major row between China and Japan. Nearly 1,000 people marched through the town of Toucheng, in northeastern Ilan county, clutching banners and flags and chanting slogans. Several demonstrators wore white T-shirts with slogans such as “Safeguarding the Diaoyu”, using the Chinese name to refer to the islands known as Senkaku in Japanese. Taiwan has placed the islands — which are controlled by Japan — under the administration of Toucheng town government. The protest came after dozens of Taiwanese fishing boats from Ilan county last week entered territorial waters around the disputed islands to press Taipei’s claim. Japanese coastguard ships sprayed water at the fishing vessels in a bid to turn them away, prompting a fleet of Taiwanese coastguards to fight back, directing their own high-pressure hoses at the Japanese ships. The intrusion has complicated the already volatile territorial dispute between Japan and China. Tensions have mounted after Japan announced in September that it had completed a planned purchase of some of the islands, prompting Taiwan to recall its envoy to Tokyo and triggering mass protests in China. afp
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Philippines sends more troops to guard disputed islands
* Lieutenant General Juancho Sabban says deployment meant as defensive measure
MANILA: The Philippines has deployed 800 more Marines and opened a new headquarters to guard its interests in the disputed Spratlys islands, which China also claims, a senior military official said Sunday.
Straddling vital shipping lanes and believed sitting atop vast reserves of mineral deposits, including oil, the Spratlys chain in the South China Sea has long been considered a flashpoint for conflict in the region. Apart from the Philippines and China, the Spratlys are claimed in whole or in part by Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and Taiwan.
Lieutenant General Juancho Sabban, appearing to want to assuage Beijing in particular, said the deployment was only meant as a defensive measure and should not be seen as an aggressive move. “These two battalions which arrived recently will be augmenting protection of our islands,” Sabban, who heads the military garrison which has jurisdiction over the Spratlys, told AFP. “We are just on a defensive posture and are ensuring the defence of our islands. It is better to defend than retake islands once other claimants occupy them.”
He said a Marine brigade headquarters had also been created on the nearby Philippine province of Palawan, facing the South China Sea, “to provide command and control” over the forces.
The Marines will not be stationed on the Spratlys but will patrol nearby. Sabban accused China of continually fortifying its structures on islands in the Spratlys that Beijing controls, though at present “no claimant countries have manifested any offensive action”. “We are not there to create a situation where it will lead to an accidental conflict and escalate into a regional problem,” Sabban stressed. China, which is in a dispute with Japan over islands in the East China Sea, has been accused of ramping up tensions in the South China Sea. The Philippines and Vietnam over the past year raised alarm over Beijing’s assertiveness.
China claims all of the South China Sea, which Manila calls the West Philippine Sea, even waters close to its Asian neighbours.
Sabban’s announcement came just days after incoming Chinese leader Xi Jinping met a special Philippine envoy and expressed hope bilateral ties would improve. The meeting was set months after both sides were locked in a tense standoff in Scarborough shoal, another outcrop in the South China Sea north of the Spratlys. afp
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US Will Not Mediate in China-Japan Island Dispute
+UNITED NATIONS September 28, 2012 (AP)
The U.S. is urging China and Japan make serious diplomatic efforts to peacefully manage their bitter dispute over contested islands.
The two Asian powers traded angry accusations in a late-night exchange at the U.N. General Assembly Thursday over the islands, called Senkaku by Japan and Diaoyu by China.
Top U.S. diplomat for East Asia, Kurt Campbell, told a news conference Friday the U.S. will not play a mediating role in the dispute.
He said both sides recognize the importance of their relationship, and the U.S. strongly believes dialogue would yield positive results.
But Campbell said that it would be wise to set aside the territorial dispute as it would be "extraordinarily difficult" to solve it.
Japan administers the islands, and like China, is adamant they are its territory.
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Meh kita ulang kaji balik mengapa 2 negara ni berebut pulau ni, dalam wikipedia ni artikelnya
Two of the disputed islets – Kita-Kojima (left) and Minami-Kojima (right)Main article: Senkaku Islands dispute
Territorial sovereignty over the islands and the maritime boundaries around them are disputed between the People's Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), and Japan.
The People's Republic and Taiwan claim that the islands have been a part of Chinese territory since at least 1534. They acknowledge that Japan took control of the islands in 1894–1895 during the first Sino-Japanese War, through the signature of the Treaty of Shimonoseki. They assert that the Potsdam Declaration (which Japan accepted as part of the San Francisco Peace Treaty) required that Japan relinquish control of all islands except for "the islands of Honshū, Hokkaidō, Kyūshū, Shikoku and such minor islands as we determine", and they state that this means control of the islands should pass to China.
Japan does not accept that there is a dispute, asserting that the islands are an integral part of Japan.[47] Japan has rejected claims that the islands were under China's control prior to 1895, and that these islands were contemplated by the Potsdam Declaration or affected by the San Francisco Peace Treaty.[48]
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China takes islands dispute with Japan to pages of U.S. newspapers
An aerial photo shows a Chinese marine surveillance ship Haijian No. 66 (R) cruising next to Japan Coast Guard patrol ships in the East China Sea, known as Senkaku isles in Japan and Diaoyu islands in China, in this photo by Kyodo September 24, 2012.
Credit: Reuters/Kyodo
By Jennifer Saba
Fri Sep 28, 2012 8:46pm EDT
(Reuters) - With world leaders gathered in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, China has taken its dispute with Japan over the ownership of a chain of islands to the ad pages of major American newspapers.
China Daily, an organ of the Communist Party and the country's official English-language daily newspaper, took out full-page-spread advertisements on Friday in the New York Times and the Washington Post.
The ad's headline asserts "Diaoyu Islands Belong to China" over a color picture of the string of islands in the East China Sea. It says the islands "have been an inherent territory of China since ancient times."
Ownership of the islands has become a major flashpoint in deteriorating Sino-Japanese relations. The potentially gas-rich uninhabited islets, administered by Japan for years, have been claimed by China and Taiwan, where they are known as Diaoyu and Tiaoyutai, respectively.
The festering dispute figured prominently at the General Assembly this week as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urged China and Japan on Thursday to let "cooler heads" prevail.
In September, Japan brought the chain - known to the Japanese as the Senkaku Islands - under state control through a "purchase" from a private owner.
A spokesperson for the Japanese consulate in New York defended Japan's ownership of the islands but would not comment on the Chinese ads.
(Editing by Mary Milliken and Ciro Scotti)
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China carrier a show of force as Japan tension festers
Tue, Sep 25 2012
1 of 4. China's first aircraft carrier, which was renovated from an old aircraft carrier that China bought from Ukraine in 1998, is seen docked at Dalian Port, in Dalian, Liaoning province in this September 22, 2012 file photo. China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, officially entered naval ranks on September 25, 2012 the country's Ministry of Defence announced, in a move that it said would help project maritime power and defend Chinese territory.
2 of 4. An aerial view shows Japan Coast Guard patrol ship (C) and Taiwan's Coast Guard vessel (bottom) spraying water at each other near the disputed islands in the East China Sea, known as Senkaku in Japan, More...
Credit: REUTERS/Kyodo
3 of 4. An aerial view shows Japan Coast Guard patrol ship (C) and Taiwan's Coast Guard vessel (top) spraying water at each other near the disputed islands in the East China Sea, known as Senkaku in Japan
4 of 4. A Taiwanese fishing boat sails near the disputed East China Sea islets called Senkaku in Japan, Diaoyutai in China and Tiaoyutai in Taiwan in this handout photo from Central News Agency September 25, More...
Credit: REUTERS/Central News Agency/Handout
Credit: Reuters/Stringer/Files
By Kiyoshi Takenaka and Terril Yue Jones
TOKYO/BEIJING | Tue Sep 25, 2012 4:14pm EDT
TOKYO/BEIJING (Reuters) - China sent its first aircraft carrier into formal service on Tuesday amid a tense maritime dispute with Japan in a show of force that could worry its neighbors.
China's Ministry of Defence said the newly named Liaoning aircraft carrier would "raise the overall operational strength of the Chinese navy" and help Beijing to "effectively protect national sovereignty, security and development interests".
In fact, the aircraft carrier, refitted from a ship bought from Ukraine, will have a limited role, mostly for training and testing ahead of the possible launch of China's first domestically built carriers after 2015, analysts say.
The Pentagon played down the event, with spokesman George Little telling a briefing that the United States was monitoring China's development of its military but noted, "This wasn't a particular surprise."
China cast the formal handing over of the carrier to its navy -- attended by President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao -- as a triumphant show of national strength at a time of tensions with Japan over islands claimed by both sides.
"The smooth commissioning of the first aircraft carrier has important and profound meaning for modernizing our navy and for enhancing national defensive power and the country's overall strength," Xinhua news agency cited Wen as saying at the commissioning ceremony in the northern port of Dalian.
Sino-Japanese relations deteriorated sharply this month after Japan bought the East China Sea islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, from their private owner, sparking anti-Japan protests across China.
"China will never tolerate any bilateral actions by Japan that harm Chinese territorial sovereignty," Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun told his Japanese counterpart on Tuesday as the two met in a bid to ease tensions.
"Japan must banish illusions, undertake searching reflection and use concrete actions to amend its errors, returning to the consensus and understandings reached between our two countries' leaders."
Japanese diplomats gathered in New York for the U.N. General Assembly said their government's purchase of the islands from its private owners was designed to contain the controversy.
"The Japanese government has communicated and explained this intention to the PRC. However, we have the current situation," said Naoki Saiki, deputy press secretary of Japan's Foreign Ministry.
Saiki did not indicate whether Tuesday's vice-ministerial talks with China made concrete progress, but she said, "The important thing is that both sides did agree on the continuation of contacts and communications with each other."
In a sign of the tensions, China has postponed a ceremony marking the 40th anniversary of the resumption of diplomatic ties with Japan. But an official at the Japan-China Economic Association said Toyota Motor Corp Chairman Fujio Cho and Hiromasa Yonekura, chairman of Japanese business lobby Keidanren, and other representatives of Japan-China friendship groups would attend an event on Thursday in Beijing.
The risks of military confrontation are scant, but political tensions between Asia's two biggest economies could fester and worries persist about an unintended incident at sea.
"If blood is shed, people would become irrational," Koichi Kato, an opposition lawmaker who heads the Japan-China Friendship Association and will travel to Beijing, told Reuters.
"NOT CUTTING EDGE"
For the Chinese navy, the addition of carriers has been a priority as it builds a force capable of deploying far from the Chinese mainland.
China this month warned the United States, with President Barack Obama's "pivot" to Asia, not to get involved in separate territorial disputes in the South China Sea between China and U.S. allies such as the Philippines.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in turn urged China and its Southeast Asian neighbors to resolve disputes "without coercion, without intimidation, without threats and certainly without the use of force".
Narushige Michishita, a security expert at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo, said he thought the timing of the launch was unrelated to the islands dispute.
Rather, experts said it might be associated with China's efforts to build up patriotic unity ahead of a Communist Party congress that will install a new generation of top leaders as early as next month.
"China is taking another step to boost its strategic naval capability," Michishita said. "If they come to have an operational aircraft carrier, for the time being we are not super-concerned about the direct implications for the military balance between the U.S. and Japan on the one hand, and China on the other. This is still not cutting edge."
The East China Sea tensions with Japan were complicated on Tuesday by the entry of Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing calls an illegitimate breakaway, which also lays claim to the islands.
Japanese Coast Guard vessels fired water cannon to turn away about 40 Taiwan fishing boats and 12 Taiwan Coast Guard vessels. Six Chinese patrol ships were also near the islands but four left, leaving two nearby but not in waters Japan considers its own.
Japan protested to Taiwan, a day after lodging a complaint with China over what it called a similar intrusion by Chinese vessels.
Taiwan has friendly ties with Japan, but the two sides have long squabbled over fishing rights in the area. China and Taiwan both argue they have inherited China's historic sovereignty over the islands.
The flare-up in tension comes at a time when both China and Japan confront domestic political pressures. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's government faces an election in months, adding pressure on him not to look weak on China. China's Communist Party is preoccupied with the leadership turnover, with President Hu Jintao due to step down.
(Additional reporting by Linda Sieg in Tokyo, Sui-Lee Wee, Ben Blanchard and Chris Buckley in Beijing, Paul Eckert in New York, and Phil Stewart in Washington; Editing by Nick Macfie, Jeremy Laurence and Cynthia Osterman)
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China announces formal handover of first aircraft carrier
China's first aircraft carrier, which was renovated from an old aircraft carrier that China bought from Ukraine in 1998, is seen docked at Dalian Port, in Dalian, Liaoning province in this September 22, 2012 file photo. China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, officially entered naval ranks on September 25, 2012 the country's Ministry of Defence announced, in a move that it said would help project maritime power and defend Chinese territory.
Credit: Reuters/Stringer/Files
BEIJING | Tue Sep 25, 2012 1:25am EDT
BEIJING (Reuters) - China's first aircraft carrier officially entered service on Tuesday and the Defense Ministry said it would help project maritime power and defend Chinese territory.
The handover of the vessel comes as China and Japan are embroiled in a dispute over islands they both claim and China is concerned over renewed U.S. military interest in Asia.
The carrier, called the Liaoning, was originally purchased from Ukraine and has undergone extensive renovation in the Chinese port of Dalian.
"The entry into the ranks of this aircraft carrier will raise the level of modernization of China's overall naval operational forces," the ministry said on its website (www.mod.gov.cn).
The Liaoning will help "effectively protect national sovereignty, security and development interests", it said.
However, military experts expect the carrier, named after the northeast province of which Dalian is capital, to have a limited operational role and to be used mainly for training.
It is, nonetheless, a point of pride for a major navy that has never had a carrier in its fleet.
"When all the major powers, and even some small and medium-sized countries, own aircraft carriers, it is natural that China should have its own aircraft carrier," Rear Admiral Yang Yi wrote in a commentary in the China Daily on Tuesday.
"China has vast sea areas and huge maritime rights and interests that it needs to protect, and China's growing overseas interests require a strong navy to provide security guarantees," said Yang, a former director of the Institute for Strategic Studies at the People's Liberation Army National Defense University.
The Liaoning will mainly engage in scientific research and training, Yang said, while adding it would also help China assert its military power.
"China is tough-minded and will absolutely safeguard its sovereignty and national dignity," Yang said. "We stand for peace, but we are not afraid of any threats or intimidation."
The row over the East China Sea islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, has strained relations between the neighboring economic powers and sparked anti-Japan protests across China.
Japanese coastguard vessels, Chinese surveillance and fishery patrol ships, and up to 100 Taiwanese fishing boats were in the area on Tuesday. Taiwan also claims the islands.
China is also worried about the U.S. military's recently adopted strategic "pivot" back to Asia after years of being focused on the Middle East.
The refitted carrier, originally called the Varyag, returned to Dalian in July after its ninth sea trial, state media said.
China is expected to launch its own domestically built aircraft carriers after 2015, military analysts say.
However, professional and amateur analysts who study satellite images of Chinese shipyards have been unable to find any evidence of construction.
In its annual report on the Chinese military published this year, the U.S. Defense Department said construction may have started on some components of domestically built Chinese aircraft carriers.
(Reporting by Terril Yue Jones and Chris Buckley; Editing by Nick Macfie and Robert Birsel)
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Japan fires water cannon to turn away Taiwan boats
An aerial view shows Japan Coast Guard patrol ship (C) and Taiwan's Coast Guard vessel (top) spraying water at each other near the disputed islands in the East China Sea, known as Senkaku in Japan, Diaoyu in China and Tiaoyutai in Taiwan, in this photo taken by Kyodo September 25, 2012. A group of fishermen from Taiwan said as many as 100 boats escorted by 10 Taiwan Coast Guard vessels would arrive in the area later on Monday. Mandatory Credit.
Credit: Reuters/Kyodo
By Kiyoshi Takenaka and Kaori Kaneko
TOKYO | Tue Sep 25, 2012 1:07am EDT
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Coast Guard vessels fired water cannon to turn away about 40 Taiwan fishing boats and eight Taiwan Coast Guard vessels from waters Japan considers its own on Tuesday in the latest twist to a row between Tokyo and Beijing.
Japan protested to Taiwan, a day after it lodged a complaint with China over what it said was a similar intrusion by Chinese boats.
Sino-Japanese relations deteriorated sharply this month after Japan bought disputed East China Sea islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, from their private owner, sparking anti-Japan protests across China.
Taiwan has friendly ties with Japan, but the two sides have long squabbled over fishing rights in the area. China and Taiwan both argue they have inherited China's historic sovereignty over the islands.
Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said the coast guard used water cannon and other measures to get the Taiwan ships to change course.
All the Taiwan fishing boats and coast guard ships had since left territorial waters, the Japanese Coast Guard said.
Japanese public broadcaster NHK showed footage of a Japanese Coast Guard ship shooting water at a Taiwan fishing boat, while a Taiwan patrol vessel blasted water at the Coast Guard ship in reply.
While few experts expect a military confrontation, an unintended clash at sea would increase tension, although all sides are expected to try to manage the row before it spirals out of control.
Japan's top diplomat, Vice Foreign Minister Chikao Kawai, was in Beijing for a meeting with Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun in a bid to ease tensions between Asia's two biggest economies.
An official at the Japan-China Economic Association said that Toyota Motor Corp Chairman Fujio Cho and Hiromasa Yonekura, chairman of Japanese business lobby Keidanren, and other representatives of Japan-China friendship groups would attend an event on Thursday in Beijing.
This comes despite the cancellation of a bigger event to mark the 40th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties, called off because of the chill in relations.
"We've just lodged a protest with the Taiwan side," Fujimura told a news conference. "...Our stance is that this is something that needs to be solved in the context of good bilateral ties between Japan and Taiwan. We would like to address the issue calmly."
China's Ministry of Agriculture for its part said close to 200 Chinese boats have been fishing in seas around a group of rocky islands, near rich fishing grounds and potentially huge gas reserves, disputed with Japan.
The Chinese statement did not specify whether the boats were all there at once or say how close they were to the islands. Beijing, which regards self-ruled Taiwan as a renegade province, may have included Taiwan fishing boats in its estimate.
The flare-up in tension comes at a time when both China and Japan confront domestic political pressures. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's government faces an election in months, adding pressure on him not to look weak on China.
China's Communist Party is preoccupied with a leadership turnover, with President Hu Jintao due to step down as party leader at a congress that could open as soon as next month.
A group of Taiwan fishing boats left for the islands in heavy rain on Monday. The group said the boats would sail around the islands and assert their right to fish there - and did not rule out attempting to land. As many as 100 Taiwan fishing boats may be in the area, Japanese media said.
Japan said that four Chinese surveillance vessels and two Chinese fishery patrol ships were in nearby waters but outside its territory.
(Writing by Linda Sieg in Tokyo; additional reporting by Chris Buckley and Sui-Lee Wee in Beijing; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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Japan, China military conflict seen unlikely despite strain
A woman plugs her ears as she walks past an anti-China rally, attended by about 30 demonstrators, in Tokyo September 18, 2012.
Credit: Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon
By Linda Sieg
TOKYO | Sun Sep 23, 2012 6:38pm EDT
TOKYO (Reuters) - Hawkish Chinese commentators have urged Beijing to prepare for military conflict with Japan as tensions mount over disputed islands in the East China Sea, but most experts say chances the Asian rivals will decide to go to war are slim.
A bigger risk is the possibility that an unintended maritime clash results in deaths and boosts pressure for retaliation, but even then Tokyo and Beijing are expected to seek to manage the row before it becomes a full-blown military confrontation.
"That's the real risk - a maritime incident leading to a loss of life. If a Japanese or Chinese were killed, there would be a huge outpouring of nationalist sentiment," said Linda Jakobson, director of the East Asia Program at the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney.
"But I still cannot seriously imagine it would lead to an attack on the other country. I do think rational minds would prevail," she said, adding economic retaliation was more likely.
A feud over the lonely islets in the East China Sea flared this month after Japan's government bought three of the islands from a private owner, triggering violent protests in China and threatening business between Asia's two biggest economies.
Adding to the tensions, China sent more than 10 government patrol vessels to waters near the islands, known as the Diaoyu in China and the Senkaku in Japan, while Japan beefed up its Coast Guard patrols. Chinese media said 1,000 fishing boats have set sail for the area, although none has been sighted close by.
Despite the diplomatic standoff and rising nationalist sentiment in China especially, experts agree neither Beijing nor Tokyo would intentionally escalate to a military confrontation what is already the worst crisis in bilateral ties in decades.
U.S. PRESSURE
"The chances of a military conflict are very, very slim because neither side wants to go down that path," said former People's Liberation Army officer, Xu Guangyu, now a senior consultant at a government-run think tank in Beijing.
Pressure from the United States, which repeated last week that the disputed isles were covered by a 1960 treaty obliging Washington to come to Japan's aid if it were attacked, is also working to restrain both sides, security experts said.
"I very seriously do not think any of the involved parties - Japan, China and including the United States because of its defense treaty (with Japan) - want to see a military conflict over this dispute," said the Lowy Institute's Jakobson.
"They don't want to risk it, they don't seek it and they do not intend to let it happen."
Still, the possibility of a clash at sea remains.
While the presence of the Chinese surveillance ships - none of which is a naval vessel - and Japan Coast Guard ships in the area might appear to set the stage for trouble, military experts said each side would try to steer clear of the other.
"The bad news is that China sent ships to the area. The good news is that they are official ships controlled by the government," said Narushige Michishita at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo.
"This is good news because they are not likely to engage in aggressive action because that would really exacerbate the situation and turn it into a major crisis," said Michishita.
The Chinese ships, he said, had another mission besides asserting China's claims to the islands and nearby waters.
"My guess is that some (Chinese) official patrol boats are there to watch out for fishing boats ... to stop them from making problems," Michishita said.
FISHING BOATS WILD CARD
Military specialists say the Chinese patrol vessels are well disciplined as are the Japan Coast Guard ships, while the two sides have grown accustomed to communicating.
"Both sides are ready, but both sides are very well under control," said a former senior Japanese military official.
What worries observers most is the risk that a boat carrying Chinese fishermen slips through or activists try to land, sparking clashes with Japan's Coast Guard that result in deaths - news of which would spread like wildfire on the Internet.
In 1996, a Hong Kong activist drowned in the nearby waters.
Diplomatic and economic relations chilled sharply in 2010 after Japan arrested a Chinese trawler captain whose boat collided with a Japan Coast Guard vessel. This time, tensions are already high and China is contending with a tricky once-in-a-decade leadership change while Japan's ruling party faces a probable drubbing in an election expected in months.
"Two rational governments of major countries would not intentionally decide to enter into a major war with each other over a few uninhabited rocks," said Denny Roy, an Asia security expert at the East-West Center in Hawaii.
"But unfortunately, you can arrive at war in ways other than that - through unintended escalation, in which both countries start out at a much lower level, but each of them think that they must respond to perceived provocation by the other side, both very strongly pushed into it by domestic pressure. That seems to be where we are now and it is difficult to see how countries can get out of that negative spiral."
Others, however, were more confident that an unplanned clash could be kept from escalating into military conflict.
"That's not really a major possibility, because there are still broad channels of communication between the two sides, and they would help prevent that happening. Both sides could still talk to each other," said former senior PLA officer Xu.
"Even before anything happened, you would also have the U.N Secretary General and others stepping in to ensure that the situation does not get out of control."
(Additional reporting by Chris Buckley and Michael Martina in Beijing, and Paul Eckert in Washington; Editing by Ron Popeski)
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Japan brandname firms shut China plants after protest violence
Demonstrators chant slogans and carry a Chinese national flag as they march past riot police outside the main entrance to the Japanese embassy in Beijing September 17, 2012. Chinese police used pepper spray, tear gas and water cannon to break up an anti-Japan protest in southern China on Sunday as demonstrators took to the streets in scores of cities across the country in a long-running row with Japan over a group of disputed islands.
Credit: Reuters/David Gray
By Kazunori Takada and Chris Buckley
SHANGHAI/BEIJING | Mon Sep 17, 2012 12:47pm EDT
SHANGHAI/BEIJING (Reuters) - Some major Japanese brandname firms announced factory shutdowns in China on Monday and urged expatriates to stay indoors ahead of what could be more angry protests over a territorial dispute between Asia's two biggest economies.
China's worst outbreak of anti-Japan sentiment in decades led to weekend demonstrations and violent attacks on well-known Japanese businesses such as car makers Toyota and Honda, forcing frightened Japanese into hiding and prompting Chinese state media to warn that trade relations could now be in jeopardy.
Another outbreak of anti-Japan sentiment is expected across China on Tuesday, the anniversary of Japan's 1931 occupation of parts of mainland China.
"I'm not going out today and I've asked my Chinese boyfriend to be with me all day tomorrow," said Sayo Morimoto, a 29-year-old Japanese graduate student at a university in Shenzhen.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the government would protect Japanese firms and citizens and called for protesters to obey the law.
"The gravely destructive consequences of Japan's illegal purchase of the Diaoyu Islands are steadily emerging, and the responsibility for this should be born by Japan," he told a daily news briefing. The islands, called the Senkaku by Japan and Diaoyu by China.
China and Japan, which generated two-way trade of $345 billion last year, are arguing over the uninhabited islets in the East China Sea, a long-standing dispute that erupted last week when the Japanese government decided to buy some of them from a private Japanese owner.
In response, China sent six surveillance ships to the area, which contains potentially large gas reserves. On Monday, a flotilla of around 1,000 Chinese fishing boats was sailing for the islands.
The weekend protests mainly targeted Japanese diplomatic missions but also shops, restaurants and car dealerships in at least five cities. Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor Co said arsonists had badly damaged their stores in the eastern port city of Qingdao at the weekend.
Toyota said its factories and offices were operating as normal on Monday and that it had not ordered its Japanese employees home.
Honda said it would suspend production in China starting on Tuesday for two days. Fast Retailing Co, Asia's largest apparel retailer, said it had closed some of its Uniqlo outlets in China and may close yet more.
Japan's top general retailer, Seven & I Holdings, said it would close 13 Ito Yokado supermarkets and 198 "7-11" convenience stores in China on Tuesday, while Sony Corp is discouraging non-essential travel to China.
Mazda Motor Corp will halt production at its Nanjing factory, which it jointly operates with Chongqing Changan Automobile Co Ltd and Ford Motor Co, for four days. Nissan Motor Co suspended China production for two days, starting Monday, sources said.
"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."
Electronics group Panasonic said one of its plants had been sabotaged by Chinese workers and would remain closed through Tuesday.
Canon Inc will stop production at three of its four Chinese factories on Tuesday, Japanese media reports said, while All Nippon Airways Co reported a rise in cancellations on Japan-bound flights from China.
The dispute also hit the shares of Hong Kong-listed Japanese retailers on Monday, with department store operator Aeon Stores (Hong Kong) Co Ltd falling to a seven-month low.
"All Japan-related shares are under selling pressure," said Andrew To, a research director from Emperor Capital.
Japan warned its citizens about large-scale protests in China on Tuesday. Many Japanese schools across China, including in Beijing and Shanghai, have cancelled classes this week.
U.S. SAYS NOT TAKING SIDES
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, who met visiting U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Monday, urged Beijing to ensure Japan's people and property were protected.
Panetta said the United States would stand by its security treaty obligations to Japan but not take sides in the row, and urged calm and restraint on both sides.
The overseas edition of the People's Daily, the main newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, warned that Beijing could resort to economic retaliation if the dispute festers.
"How could it be that Japan wants another lost decade, and could even be prepared to go back by two decades?" asked a front-page editorial. China "has always been extremely cautious about playing the economic card", it said.
"But in struggles concerning territorial sovereignty, if Japan continues its provocations, then China will take up the battle."
China is Japan's biggest trade partner and Japan is China's third largest. Any harm to business and investment ties would be bad for both economies at a time when China faces a slowdown.
Qingdao police said they had arrested a number of people suspected of "disrupting social order" during the protests, apparently referring to the attacks on Japanese-operated factories and shops there.
In Shanghai, home to China's biggest Japanese expatriate population of 56,000, one expat said his family as well as other Japanese customers had been chased out of a Japanese restaurant on Sunday by protesters near the Japanese consulate.
Guangzhou police said on their official microblog that they had detained 11 people for smashing up a Japanese-brand car, shop windows and billboards on Sunday.
(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard, Norihiko Shirouzu, Sui-Lee Wee in BEIJING, and Yoko Kubota, Antoni Slodkowski and Linda Sieg in TOKYO; Editing by Nick Macfie)
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Large banners adorn the front of Beijing's Silk Street Market declaring that the famous knock-off designer ware store refuses 'to sell Japanese goods' due to issues over the disputed East China Sea
walauweyyyy bersatu ekonomi mereka dalam isu ni ek Last edited by yipun_78 on 1-10-2012 07:30 AM
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September 28, 2012, 8:45 AM
China takes aim at Japan over island dispute at UN
UNITED NATIONS — China and Japan traded angry accusations in a late-night spat over a small group of islands in the East China Sea that both claim.
It started when Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi accused Japan of "grossly violating" Chinese sovereignty by its purchase of the islands. He pronounced the moves by Japan as "totally illegal and invalid" during his address late Thursday to the U.N. General Assembly.
The dispute over the islands, called Diaoyu by China and Senakaku by Japan, has raised tensions between them to their highest in years and sparked violent anti-Japan protests in China.
Yang said, "China strongly urges Japan to immediately stop all activities that violate China's territorial sovereignty" and take concrete actions to correct its "mistakes."
Japan's Deputy Ambassador Kazuo Kodama seized on his country's right of reply at the end of the assembly session, and restated that Japan has every right to the land.
"There is no doubt that the Senakaku islands are clearly an inherent territory of Japan based on historical facts and international law," Kodama said. "There is no issue of territorial sovereignty to be resolved."
China's U.N. Ambassador, Li Baodong, then accused Japan of having an "obsolete colonial mentality."
Japan's government says the islands' purchase, from a private Japanese citizen this month, was intended to help manage the dispute.
Japan administers the islands, and like China, is adamant they are its territory.
© 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. |
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How the China-Japan island dispute can impact India
Sep 28, 2012, 12.44AM IST
Tags:World War II|Sino-Indian border|Japan|European Union|East China Sea|China-Japan island dispute|China|ASEAN(Territorial dispute is…)By C Uday Bhaskar
China has raised the politico-diplomatic ante with Japan over the disputed islands in the East China Sea in a definitive manner through a formal Cabinet-equivalent announcement in Beijing and the follow-up of this assertion at the foreign minister level in New York on Tuesday (September 25).
Territorial disputes with certain key Asian countries is a high-octane issue in Beijing and the manner in which China is asserting its claim with Japan over a total area of 7 sq km spread over eight uninhabited rocky islands has a specific relevance for India. October 20, 2012, marks the 50th anniversary of the commencement of the brief 1962 Sino-Indian border war that resulted in a complex and contested territorial-cum-border dispute that remains unresolved to-date.
On Tuesday, the State Council in Beijing issued a white paper that proclaimed, "China's will to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity is firm and its resolve to uphold the outcomes of the World Anti-Fascist War will not be shaken by any force." The historical recall refers to the Chinese resistance to the brutal Japanese military invasion and occupation that began in September 1931 and concluded with the apocalyptic end of World War II in August 1945.
The domestic determination exuded in Beijing over the islands — it should be added that the diminutive figure of 7 sq km in the East China Sea also translates into a huge exclusive economic zone over a radius of 200 nautical miles, or 370 km — was conveyed in New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly on Tuesday by the Chinese foreign minister to his Japanese counterpart. Tokyo has euphemistically described the prevailing atmosphere as being 'severe'.
The current Sino-Japan tension is centred over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands — the names being the Japanese and Chinese variants, respectively. Japan claimed the islands in 1895 when China was the subaltern in the bilateral relationship and, over the last century, the vicissitudes of colonialism and two World Wars have left their bloody, traumatic imprint on both countries. Currrently, while Japan has physical possession of the islands, both China and Taiwan have claimed them over the decades with varying intensity — as per their respective recall of the historical record.
The catalyst for the current tension was the decision by the Japanese government to 'buy' the islands from one of its own citizens to preempt overt politicising of the sensitive issue by the more provocative Tokyo governor, Shintaro Ishihara. This has clearly boomeranged and Beijing has taken extreme affront to the purported sale and invoked a Chinese proverb, "It is up to the one who tied the knot to untie it" for Tokyo to reflect on — and make amends/atone.
Delhi is familiar with this Chinese adage apropos the May 1998 nuclear test and the subsequent communication to the White House with its attendant boomerang effect!
Will China and Japan go to war over this dispute? Current consensus is in the negative. Given the trade volume and economic dependency index that is the most dominant feature of the bilateral relationship over the last decade, received wisdom is that while there will be high-visibility posturing, close manoeuvres by ships and a determined attempt to make the other party 'blink' first, the critical tipping point will not be crossed. If it does, all kinds of military escalation will be on the table —including the credibility of the US-Japan military alliance and the larger east Asian security architecture.
Today, China is Japan's largest trading partner and, at $361 billion (2011 figures), accounts for as much as 20% of its entire export/import basket. Japan, conversely, is China's fourthlargest trading partner after EU, US and Asean. India is at the sixth position.
The certitude that nations that have a significant trade relationship will not go to war in the 21st century given the complex interlocking lattice that globalisation engenders is now on test. Even if there is an invisible line that will not be crossed, the complementary determinants of heightened nationalism stoked by cyber/TV fervour and seemingly inviolable territoriality that becomes synonymous with sovereignty are a dangerous mix. China and Japan will have to both save face at home and reduce the 'severity' that looms in a menacing manner.
India will have to read the swirling east Asian tea leaves astutely and review its own capacity and resolve to deal with an assertive China. In 1962, the imperious assessment made by Jawaharlal Nehru had disastrous consequences.
On current evidence, the manner in which India's national security is being addressed does not inspire much confidence or hope. Denying the Indian military institutional locus and denigrating the soldier are case in point.
The author is visiting fellow at the National Maritime Foundation
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India hopes China, Japan will resolve island dispute amicably
PTI Sep 18, 2012, 07.29PM IST
Tags:Senkaku|Japan China island dispute|India|East China Sea|Diaoyu Islands|China Japan island rowNEW DELHI: Amid growing tension between China and Japan over a group of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea, India today hoped the matter is resolved amicably between the two countries.
"Yes, We have been made aware of Chinese position on this issue. On such matters of maritime and others disputes between countries.....We hope that these issues are resolved by the parties concern in an amicable manner," official spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs Syed Akbaruddin said here.
Warning Japan of "serious consequences" following "purchase" of the islands, which are called Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese, China termed the "purchase" as "totally illegal and invalid".
Chinese Ambassador to India Zhang Yan, while interacting with a select group of journalists yesterday, had said "the so-called 'purchase of Diaoyu Islands by Japanese government is totally illegal and invalid. The Chinese government and people have expressed firm opposition to and strong indignation over this action."
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Japan to 'announce purchase' of three disputed islands; move likely to irk China
Reuters Sep 10, 2012, 11.43AM IST
Tags:Japan disputed territory|Japan disputed islands|Japan|disputed islands|China-Japan row|China disputed islands|China
TOKYO: Japan has agreed to buy a group of islands disputed with China from their private owners, a government official said on Monday, prompting an angry rebuke from China a day after Chinese President Hu Jintao warned Japan against making any wrong move.
Japan aimed to nationalise the uninhabited islands in the East China Sea as soon as possible to control them in a peaceful and stable manner, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said.
The islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, are located near rich fishing ground and potentially huge maritime gas fields, and have been at the heart of long-running territorial disputes between the world's second and third-largest economies.
"This is just the ownership of land, which is part of Japan's territory, moving from one (private) owner to the state, and should not cause any problem with other countries," Fujimura said.
"Having said that, we don't want the Senkaku issue to affect overall Sino-Japanese relations. Because it is important to avoid misunderstanding and unforeseen development, we have been closely communicating with China through diplomatic channels to this day."
REAL ECONOMIC IMPACT
But China was adamant in its opposition. The row might already be affecting Japanese car sales in China, a Chinese official said, giving the row real economic impact rather than being merely an exchange in rhetoric.
"The Diaoyu islands and affiliated islands have been China's inherent territory since ancient times," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said at a regular briefing. "China has plenty of historical and legal evidence for that. The unilateral measures that Japan has taken on the Diaoyu islands are illegal and ineffective. China is firmly opposed to it.
"The Chinese government is resolute and firm in upholding its sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Diaoyu islands. We are monitoring the situation closely and will take necessary measures to uphold China's territorial sovereignty."
Noda decided on the purchase after the governor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara, a harsh critic of China, proposed his own plan to buy the islands.
Fujimura did not disclose the purchase price, but Japanese media said last week the government was set to pay 2.05 billion yen ($26.26 million).
Relations between the Asian powers, plagued by a bitter wartime past and present rivalry over regional clout, have been difficult for years.
Despite such friction, economic ties between Japan and China are deeper than ever and both countries are believed to want to keep the feud from spiralling out of control.
But the islands row appears to have hit sales of Japanese cars in the world's biggest auto market.
Dong Yang, secretary general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, told a news conference that Japanese car sales had slowed in August and he believes it was related to the dispute.
Nissan's chief operating officer, Toshiyuki Shiga, said last week that the row was having "some impact" on sales of Japanese car manufacturers as they were having difficulty in holding big, outdoor sales promotion campaigns. (Full Story)
President Hu warned Japan against buying the islands on Sunday.
"It is illegal and invalid for Japan to buy the islands via any means. China firmly opposes it," China's CCTV quoted Hu as telling saying Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Vladivostok on Sunday.
"China will unswervingly safeguard its sovereignty. Japan must realize the severity of the situation and not make a wrong decision."
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China begins mapping South China Sea to reinforce territorial claims
PTI Mar 27, 2012, 02.53PM IST
In the thick of maritime disputes with several of its neighbours, China today said it is mapping South China Sea (SCS) with an aim to step up exploration for oil and gas and to reinforce its territorial claims.
China may step up its exploration of South China Sea to reinforce its territorial claims following announcement that geographical surveys of the area are underway, state-run Global Times reported.
"The majority of the disputed waters used to be beyond our reach because we seldom put our claims into action," Zhang Yunling, director of the Institute for International Studies under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the daily.
"By drawing a map, the country can reinforce its jurisdiction claim in the South China Sea, and further actions may follow, such as exploiting resources near the Nansha Islands," Zhang said.
Located south of China's coast, SCS is connected with narrow straits with Pacific Ocean and covers 3.5 million sq km of the ocean.
China claims the entire SCS as its own. Its claim however has been contested by Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan which assert it is part their maritime waters.
Much to China's chagrin, the US extended tacit support to the small countries and stepped its presence in the Pacific region, calling for peaceful resolution of the disputes.
India's ONGC also drew Beijing's ire by taking up exploration in the blocks in SCS claimed by Vietnam.
According to a report released by China's National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geo-information (NASMG) a working group jointly set up by 13 government agencies will continue geographical surveying of the South China Sea and draw a map of the sea or its islands to "declare China's stance" on territorial issues.
Similar mapping work will also be carried out on the Diaoyu Islands and other important areas in the East China Sea, (ECS) when the time is right, it said.
Diaoyu islands, known as Senkaku islands in Japan are currently under the administrative control of Tokyo which zealously reassert its control over the uninhabited islands.
Japan also prohibits fishing by Chinese there which resulted in several skirmishes in the recent times.
"We are currently carrying out relevant work, and further details will be released at a proper time," an official with NASMG's map management office said.
Asked about providing access to Chinese market to Indian pharmaceutical companies, Wentao admitted that there was lack of understanding about the Indian pharma products in China but ruled out any discrimination against them.
"We know India is very developed in pharma industry. We are the ones who are talking to our bureaucracy in trying to raise their awareness about Indian pharmaceutical products... However, I would like to say that we do not have any discrimination against the Indian companies," he said.
He also attributed lack of "patience" and man power of Indian companies for not being able to exploit the Chinese pharmaceutical market, noting that rules and regulations for all the foreign countries are same.
On granting greater access to Indian IT firms, he noted that India has stronghold over the sector but said Chinese firms are also getting international contracts, and they may face competition with each other.
Asked about high tariff structure which has been impacting India's exports to the country, Wentao said the duties are in tune with WTO mechanism.
Calling for further growth in bilateral trade, Liang said India is one of the most important trading partners of China and current volume of trade does not reflect the size of population and economic growth rate of the two countries.
"China is called world's manufacturer while India is called world's office due to its dominance in software and IT... I think bilateral trade can go up significantly considering our economic strength and population," Wentao said.
The Commerce Ministry has initiated a trade and investment facilitation programme to raise awareness about Indian products so that import increases significantly.
"The mutual investment is very small. We still lack better mutual understanding. We still do not each other very well in terms of trade and business," Wentao said, adding that India's investment in China last year was USD 442 million while Chinese FDI was 576 million.
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South China Sea standoff: India urges restraint
PTI May 10, 2012, 05.19PM IST
India today expressed concern on recent territorial stand-off between China and the Philippines in the South China Sea and asked them to exercise restraint and resolve the issue diplomatically as per international law.
"We have been following with concern recent developments involving China and the Philippines in the South China Sea. Maintenance of peace and security in the region is of vital interest to the international community.
"India urges both countries to exercise restraint and resolve the issue diplomatically according to principles of international law," official spokesperson in the Ministry of External Affairs Syed Akbaruddin said.
The standoff started on April 8 when Philippine military forces spotted Chinese fishermen taking marine species from the area. But before a crew from a Philippine Navy ship could make arrests, Chinese ships blocked the vessel's path.
After the incident Philippines said it is approaching international court of arbitration to assert its claim for exclusive economic zone (EEZ) under the international laws of seas, which irked Beijing and resulted in a warning to Manila that it should "not misjudge the situation and not escalate tensions without considering the consequences".
China claims sovereignty over the Panatag Shoal, which it refers to as Huangyan Island.
The standoff is part of a wider territorial dispute in the South China Sea, parts of which are also claimed by Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Brunei. China claims nearly the entire region, which is believed to contain large oil and natural gas deposits.
China has also raised objections to Indian exploration projects in Vietnamese oil blocks, claiming that the territory belonged to it. India has always maintained that its projects were commercial in nature and the territorial disputes should be resolved as per the international laws.
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Post time 1-10-2012 07:05 AM
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