Gov. Blinky Ishihara wants to buy the Senkaku Rocks

[Samurai_Jerk]

China Appoints Former Ambassador to Japan as Foreign Minister

Wang Yi, a career diplomat and former ambassador to Japan, was named China’s foreign minister, as Asia’s two biggest economies grapple with a territorial dispute in the East China Sea. ...

Wang, 59, will move from the Taiwan Affairs Office, where he was director. He was ambassador to Japan from 2004 to 2007, and previously headed the Foreign Ministry’s Asia department. A visiting scholar at Georgetown University in 1997, he worked in Japan in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
A dispute with Japan over islands in the East China Sea, known as Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese, has harmed trade and economic ties between the two countries and inflamed historical tensions.

I wonder if the Chinese are hoping a Japan expert will help smooth things over. Or maybe they think he'll know the best way to fuck Japan.

[Russell]

China Appoints Former Ambassador to Japan as Foreign Minister

Wang Yi, a career diplomat and former ambassador to Japan, was named China’s foreign minister, as Asia’s two biggest economies grapple with a territorial dispute in the East China Sea. ...

Wang, 59, will move from the Taiwan Affairs Office, where he was director. He was ambassador to Japan from 2004 to 2007, and previously headed the Foreign Ministry’s Asia department. A visiting scholar at Georgetown University in 1997, he worked in Japan in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
A dispute with Japan over islands in the East China Sea, known as Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese, has harmed trade and economic ties between the two countries and inflamed historical tensions.

I wonder if the Chinese are hoping a Japan expert will help smooth things over. Or maybe they think he'll know the best way to fuck Japan.

I think this should be considered a positive move by China. They probably realize that their Senkaku-policy is counter-effective, and they want to change course. Hell, they drove Japan, which was aiming for closer ties with China at the expense of the US a few years ago, right back into the arms of the US. Pragmatic as they are, Chinese will likely become a little less hard-core over the coming years. Now we should only hope that Japan does not screw up the delicate relations by some stupid actions of some idiot politicians.

[Coligny]

I think this should be considered a positive move by China. They probably realize that their Senkaku-policy is counter-effective, and they want to change course. Hell, they drove Japan, which was aiming for closer ties with China at the expense of the US a few years ago, right back into the arms of the US. Pragmatic as they are, Chinese will likely become a little less hard-core over the coming years. Now we should only hope that Japan does not screw up the delicate relations by some stupid actions of some idiot politicians.

+1

Just hope the other side don't blow it...

[Samurai_Jerk]

I have to agree with Russel and here's some more evidence China is trying.

Under Xi, China seeks to cool row with Japan over islands

In a break from months of saber rattling, China under new President Xi Jinping appears to be moderating its approach to a potentially explosive territorial dispute with Japan and taking measures to prevent accidental conflict.

Ahead of Xi's appointment last Thursday, General Liu Yuan, a senior People's Liberation Army (PLA) officer close to the new leader, warned of the danger of war with Japan in a series of conciliatory commentaries and public remarks at odds with earlier bellicose rhetoric from military hawks.

In addition, maritime experts believe Beijing's announcement a week ago that it would unify its armada of paramilitary maritime agencies under a single command will tighten control over these forces on the frontline of China's efforts to enforce claims over disputed islands in the East China Sea.

Patrol ships from these agencies are churning up the seas around the islands, increasing the risk of an accidental clash with the Japanese coastguard or military, security experts say. The area around the uninhabited rocky outcrops, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, is believed to be rich in oil and gas.

To be sure, Liu is largely on his own among senior military officers publicly calling for calm, but the volume of his comments, their timing and his close relationship to Xi point to a potential shift, experts say. ...

General Liu, a Communist Party princeling like Xi, said soldiers had a duty to defend the country and must fight to win but this should be a last resort, in comments reported Thursday on China's official military website.

"Nevertheless, as a serviceman, I need to particularly make it clear to people what a war really is," said Liu, the son of China's late president Liu Shaoqi.

"Since we have enjoyed peace for quite a long time, many young people do not know what a war is like. It is actually very cruel and costly.

"If there is any alternative way to solve the problem, there is no need to resort to the means of extreme violence for a solution."

In earlier remarks to journalists on the sidelines of China's annual parliamentary session which ends on Sunday, Liu said using peaceful means to solve the island dispute was in the best interests of both countries.

"The friendship between people in China and Japan is everlasting," he was reported as saying.

[Samurai_Jerk]

Japan PM says ready to be more assertive against China: media

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in an interview published on Saturday, said Japan was ready to be more assertive towards China as Beijing threatened to strike back if provoked.

A top retired Chinese diplomat said any move by Tokyo to contain China could amount to an attempt to conceal ulterior motives in the region and prove to be "extremely dangerous". And the defense ministry warned Japan not to underestimate China's resolve to take whatever measures were needed to protect itself.

Abe, interviewed by the Wall Street Journal, said Japan should take the lead in guarding against what he said might be an attempt by China to use force to attain its diplomatic goals.

He said he had realized at recent meetings with South East Asian leaders that the region sought leadership from Tokyo in terms of security amid China's more forthright diplomacy.

"There are concerns that China is attempting to change the status quo by force, rather than by rule of law. But if China opts to take that path, then it won't be able to emerge peacefully," he told the newspaper.

[Russell]

Lots of saber rattling suddenly.

What's up?

[Coligny]

I'm off to stock on flour, sugar, butter and noodle... That's what's up...

[yanpa]

Lots of saber rattling suddenly.

What's up?

Japan has seen off both Typhoon #27 and Typhoon #28, so is brimming with 外交 confidence.

[yanpa]

I'm off to stock on flour, sugar, butter and noodle... That's what's up...

Planning on opening an イタリア restoran' in your local shotengai then?

[Russell]

I'm off to stock on flour, sugar, butter and noodle... That's what's up...

Don't forget the bananas...

[Samurai_Jerk]

China coastguard keeps heat on Japan in island row

China on Monday kept up the pressure on Japan over the disputed Senkaku islands, sending its coastguard to the area following Beijing's weekend mention of "war" after Tokyo reportedly readied to down its drones.

Four Chinese coastguard vessels sailed into the territorial waters of the islands -- which Beijing calls the Diaoyus -- on Monday morning, the Japanese coastguard said, where they remained for about two hours.

The manoeuvre came days after China, in one of its strongest statements so far in an increasingly acrimonious spat over the islands, said if Japan fired on its unmanned aircraft it "would constitute a serious provocation, an act of war of sorts".

"We would have to take firm countermeasures, and all consequences would be the responsibility of the side that caused the provocation," China's defence ministry said.

Those comments, published Saturday, came after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe invoked support in Asia for a robust response to what he said was Beijing's attempt to "change the status quo by force".

They also followed reports that Abe had given the okay to a plan to shoot down drones entering Japanese airspace if they did not heed warnings to leave.

On Sunday, he told troops the "security environment surrounding Japan is becoming increasingly severe".

"You will have to completely rid yourselves of the conventional notion that just the existence of a defence force could act as a deterrent."

Reports said that Japan scrambled fighter jets on Sunday for the third consecutive day, as Chinese military aircraft overflew a strait between two Okinawan islands. They did not enter Japanese airspace.

[matsuki]

Grrrrrreat, just what we need.....Chinese drones to add to the local drones...

[Coligny]

Japan... high tech country...

Except for microphones...
Or anything technical...

[Samurai_Jerk]

China jeopardising peace in island row: Japan

Tokyo (AFP) - Beijing is jeopardising peace in a row with Tokyo over disputed islands, Japan's defence minister said Tuesday, days after China warned any bid to shoot down its drones would constitute "an act of war".

Itsunori Onodera's comments are likely to further heighten fears that the two countries could be sliding towards conflict over the outcrops in the East China Sea and come on the day that China showed off its fleet of nuclear-powered submarines.

"I believe the intrusions by China in the territorial waters around the Senkaku islands fall in the 'grey zone' (between) peacetime and an emergency situation," Onodera told reporters in Tokyo.

The two sides have been at loggerheads over the island chain, which China claims and calls the Diaoyus, since Tokyo bought three of them from their private Japanese owner in September 2012.

But the comments from Onodera following those from China's defence ministry at the weekend, appear to have taken the verbal fisticuffs to a new level.

On Monday, China's coastguard sent four vessels into the waters around the islands, where they stayed for two hours, shadowed by their Japanese counterparts.

That came after three consecutive days in which Tokyo scrambled jets to meet Chinese aircraft as they traversed a strait leading to the Pacific. They did not enter Japanese airspace.

"They were two early-warning aircraft and two bombers," Onodera told reporters on Tuesday.

[Coligny]

It's starting to suck... If it was just china-japan I would not worry to much, but with all the other countries pissed and menaced by the chinese expansionism. The chances of someone being a bit to cocky are going up...

[matsuki]

It's starting to suck... If it was just china-japan I would not worry to much, but with all the other countries pissed and menaced by the chinese expansionism. The chances of someone being a bit to cocky are going up...

It's fast becoming China vs the rest of Asia with oceanfront real estate...I wonder why?

China-claims-to-South-China-Sea[1].jpg

[Wage Slave]

It's fast becoming China vs the rest of Asia with oceanfront real estate...I wonder why?

China-claims-to-South-China-Sea[1].jpg

It is, but China seems to be getting away with picking them off one by one. Ever since this row broke out I have been baffled (well not really but you know what I mean) by the Japanese reluctance to make common cause. And it's not only Japan - The other nations in this affair appear just as reluctant to to work as allies with each other on the issue in spite of the fact it would rebalance things a lot.

Asia has money, education, talent, culture, and more but it still doesn't have a lot of social and political unity. Mind you, nor did Europe until it had gone through two comprehensive, industrialised wars within 30 years.

[matsuki]

Would be pretty awesome to see a joint SE ASIA group vs China on this...but I think the reason is more economic than anything. Japan, in particular, seems to want to downplay this stuff each time to prevent the economic backlash.

[Samurai_Jerk]

It's fast becoming China vs the rest of Asia with oceanfront real estate...I wonder why?

China-claims-to-South-China-Sea[1].jpg

It is, but China seems to be getting away with picking them off one by one. Ever since this row broke out I have been baffled (well not really but you know what I mean) by the Japanese reluctance to make common cause. And it's not only Japan - The other nations in this affair appear just as reluctant to to work as allies with each other on the issue in spite of the fact it would rebalance things a lot.

Asia has money, education, talent, culture, education and more but it still doesn't have a lot of social and political unity. Mind you, nor did Europe until it had gone through two comprehensive, industrialised wars within 30 years.

Japan, S. Korea, Taiwan, The Philippines, and even Vietnam all have military ties with the US.

[matsuki]

Better map of all the disputes:

map-island-dispute-624[1].gif

China actually fired upon Viet fishermen...wonder how long before they're bold enough to do that with the Japanese Coast Guard

[Wage Slave]

Japan, S. Korea, Taiwan, The Philippines, and even Vietnam all have military ties with the US.

Indeed, so what's the conclusion? That the US has asked them all to avoid clubbing together on this issue as the US wants it done her way as it is her that will have to clean up the mess if it goes hot? That they all consider it's America's job to sort it out? That China knows that messing with any one of them means messing with the great Satan herself so everybody knows that once face has been satisfied nothing will really happen?

[matsuki]

Japan, S. Korea, Taiwan, The Philippines, and even Vietnam all have military ties with the US.

Indeed, so what's the conclusion? That the US has asked them all to avoid clubbing together on this issue as the US wants it done her way as it is her that will have to clean up the mess if it goes hot? That they all consider it's America's job to sort it out? That China knows that messing with any one of them means messing with the great Satan herself so everybody knows that once face has been satisfied nothing will really happen?

If you consider the US Satan, what do you consider China?

[Wage Slave]

If you consider the US Satan, what do you consider China?

The Great Running Dog of Capitalism?

[Yokohammer]

If you consider the US Satan, what do you consider China?

Predator?

EDIT: Nope. I've been thinking about it. More like "Mars Attacks".

[Samurai_Jerk]

Japan, S. Korea, Taiwan, The Philippines, and even Vietnam all have military ties with the US.

Indeed, so what's the conclusion? That the US has asked them all to avoid clubbing together on this issue as the US wants it done her way as it is her that will have to clean up the mess if it goes hot? That they all consider it's America's job to sort it out? That China knows that messing with any one of them means messing with the great Satan herself so everybody knows that once face has been satisfied nothing will really happen?

I doubt the US has asked them not to work together but yes to the other points. Plus with the US as the glue each country's politicians are able to have their own face-saving political disputes with each other (Takeshima/Dokdo, etc.) which plays well with their constituencies.

[Coligny]

twin towers of kapitalism...

don't be around when they come crashing down...

[matsuki]

How about:



Don't get me wrong, got no love for the US playing the world order and police game...but if North Korea is the butthole of the world, China is like a kancho fart after a week of taco bell.

[Coligny]

I don't know if people already told you but...
You're not really good with metaphors...

[yanpa]

Please someone finally tell me what a "taco bell" is and why it is associated with digestion problems?

[matsuki]

Please someone finally tell me what a "taco bell" is and why it is associated with digestion problems?

Mexican themed fast food...