China, Japan stretch peace pacts

From Asia Times Online today.

Asia's two giants, China and Japan, are playing a dangerous game, each indicating they are prepared to use force in defense of islands they both claim as their own. With a side glance at China expanding its effective control of the disputed Paracel and Spratly islands in the South China Sea, Japan has been taking a stronger rhetorical stand against Beijing to protect its own sovereignty.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on July 26 said in the Diet (parliament) that if necessary the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) can be mobilized to defend the contested Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea, which are controlled by Japan but claimed by China and Taiwan.

www.atimes.com...

It is hardly a secret that there is no love lost between these two nations after centuries of rivalry and the little matter of massive Japanese war crimes committed against the Chinese during World War II eg; The rape of Nanking.

The Japanese, at least for the moment, hold the greater naval power between the two, which should act as a deterrent if Chinese leaders are going to approach this crisis logically.

A Chinese military official recently told English-language state-run newspaper the Global Times that the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) is stronger than the People's Liberation Army Navy. He also accused Japan of stirring up the China threat while modernizing its army under the patronage of the United States. The JMSDF is largely viewed as the second-strongest destroyer navy in the world, surpassed only by the US, as it boasts six Aegis-quipped destroyers and two state-of-the-art helicopter carriers.

The South China Sea is and will continue to be a cradle for confrontation until a broad based peace initiative is broached dealing with all the countries involved claims. Until this happens it is a potential flash-point between China and its neighbors and as an extension the US.

I do not consider the JSDF to be an independent military, rather the Japanese branch of the US Military. Much like the IDF is the Israeli branch of the US military. Coincidentally, both of these "self defence forces" seem to be very offensive.

In any case, this is a pointless excersise in political imperialism, since the Spratly islands are far closer to the Philipines, Malaysia and Vietnam than they are to China and Japan.

reply to post by bringback


This dispute is over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands which Japan runs but are claimed by China and Taiwan.

I agree on your comment about the name for the Japanese military forces, it does seem quite offensive. The name and policy were coined post WWII, as to appear as a non-threatening benign force in Asia. It is also interesting to note that Japan, although not in possession of any known nuclear weapons, could construct one in no time at all.

Many of Japan's political and intellectual leaders remain committed to nuclear power even as Japanese public opinion has turned sharply against it. One argument in favor rarely gets a public airing: Japan needs to maintain its technical ability to make nuclear bombs. "I don't think Japan needs to possess nuclear weapons, but it's important to maintain our commercial reactors because it would allow us to produce a nuclear warhead in a short amount of time," Shigeru Ishiba, a former defense minister, said in an interview in a recent edition of Sapio, a right-leaning twice-monthly magazine. "It's a tacit nuclear deterrent," .

online.wsj.com...

Originally posted by Peruvianmonk
reply to post by bringback

 

This dispute is over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands which Japan runs but are claimed by China and Taiwan.

I agree on your comment about the name for the Japanese military forces, it does seem quite offensive. The name and policy were coined post WWII, as to appear as a non-threatening benign force in Asia. It is also interesting to note that Japan, although not in possession of any known nuclear weapons, could construct one in no time at all.

Many of Japan's political and intellectual leaders remain committed to nuclear power even as Japanese public opinion has turned sharply against it. One argument in favor rarely gets a public airing: Japan needs to maintain its technical ability to make nuclear bombs. "I don't think Japan needs to possess nuclear weapons, but it's important to maintain our commercial reactors because it would allow us to produce a nuclear warhead in a short amount of time," Shigeru Ishiba, a former defense minister, said in an interview in a recent edition of Sapio, a right-leaning twice-monthly magazine. "It's a tacit nuclear deterrent," .

online.wsj.com...

So sorry, I thought this was about the spratly isles, I didn't read the OP properly lol

reply to post by bringback


Its all pretty much interlinking in this vast, but at the same time small sea. An arms & alliance race is ongoing between China, Japan, Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam Thailand etc.

ASEAN is not being called upon to solve the disputes as China prefers to negotiate on a nation to nation basis, hoping to prevent a build up of an anti-china alliance.

Just in the last month ASEAN failed to come up with any kind of strategy or even joint communique over the issues.

Days of heated diplomacy at Southeast Asian talks have ended in failure, as deep splits over China prevented the ASEAN grouping from issuing its customary joint statement for the first time. The Philippines lambasted the failure at the end of the talks on Friday, saying "it deplores the non-issuance of a joint communique... which was unprecedented in ASEAN's 45-year existence".

Foreign ministers from the 10-member bloc have been wrangling since Monday to hammer out a diplomatic communique, which has held up progress on a separate code of conduct aimed at soothing tension in the flashpoint South China Sea. China claims sovereignty over nearly all of the resource-rich sea, which is home to vital shipping lanes, but ASEAN members the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei have competing claims in the area. The long-stalled code of conduct, strongly supported by the United States, is seen as a way of reducing the chances of a spat over fishing, shipping rights or oil and gas exploration tipping into an armed conflict. The Philippines had insisted ASEAN refer to an armed stand-off with China last month over a rocky outcrop known as the Scarborough Shoal, but Cambodia - a Beijing ally and chair of the meeting - resisted. Taking "strong exception" to Cambodia, the Philippine statement said divisions undercut ASEAN's goal of tackling disputes as a bloc "and not in a bilateral fashion - the approach which its northern neighbour (China) has been insisting on".

The Philippines and the United States called this week for a unified ASEAN that could use its collective clout to negotiate with China, while Beijing prefers to deal with its smaller neighbours individually.

www.aljazeera.com...

Some serious diplomacy is required here, which means every country making compromises, instead of trying to gain every possible advantage for their nation.

Taiwan, another of the claimaints to the island have come out with a peace proposal.

Taiwan presented a peace proposal aimed at easing mounting tensions in a territorial dispute over an island chain in the East China Sea also claimed by China and Japan.

The proposal, put forth by President Ma Ying-jeou on Sunday, came after Japanese Defence Minister Satoshi Morimoto warned Tokyo could send troops to the island chain, known as Senkaku in Japan, Diaoyu in China and Diaoyutai in Taiwan. "The recent rise of tensions due to the Diaoyutai dispute has the potential to jeopardise peace and stability in East Asia," Ma said as Taiwan marked the anniversary of a peace treaty signed between Japan and then Kuomintang government led by Chiang Kai-shek following Japan's defeat at the end of World War II. "Peace and prosperity in the region have not come easily, and the Republic of China never again wants to see a catastrophe such as the Second Sino-Japanese War happen here," he said, using Taiwan's official name.

www.google.com...

I wonder what Taiwan are playing at? It seems strange that a nation, who also have aggressive pretensions to the island, would come up with a proposal on its own. Perhaps as the weakest out of the three, and with the obvious long-standing dispute with China over Taiwan's independence, they felt it was in their interests to try and take the sting out of the crisis.