Anti-Japan protests across China over islands dispute

Anti-Japan protests across China over islands dispute

www.bbc.co.uk

Anti-Japanese protests have taken place in cities across China after Japanese nationalists raised their country's flag on disputed islands.

Thousands of people took to the streets in Shenzhen, Guangzhou and a number of other cities demanding that Japan leave the islands in the East China Sea.

In Shenzhen, some demonstrators attacked Japanese restaurants and smashed Japanese-made cars.

The islands are known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.

(visit the link for the full news article)

I did an ATS search for this and found nothing, which surprised me! But hope I haven’t just missed something... If it’s already been posted then apologies to the mods, please just delete it.

Anyway...

I really don't understand this level of patriotic extremism... i really don't. It borders fanaticism and reinforces my belief that this type of patriotism is harmful.

My argument here is not who is right or wrong regarding the disputed islands... it's how people can feel this much anger and rage over a lump of rock in the middle of the sea that will never really affect any of their life’s?!?!

I just don't get it? Brainwashed?

Just like to add... i am certainly not just talking about the Chinese people in this video... Many nations have people who are borderline fanatical regarding the love of their nation... i just don't get it.

I hope this doesn’t in anyway legitimise escalation by the Chinese government.



www.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by Muckster


CLICK HERE: Face Kini thread

SEE!! I knew these guys were Ninjas, the media was just covering it up by saying these were face Kinis to protect you from sun rays. When actually those are real Japanese Ninjas infiltrating China

WHY DOESNT ANYBODY BELIEVE ME!

reply to post by Muckster

In Shenzhen, some demonstrators attacked Japanese restaurants and smashed Japanese-made cars.

That kind of reminds me of what some Americans did here in the late 70s and early 80s when Japan started becoming an economic power.

Seems to me these types of situations will increase before it get's any better.

Originally posted by Muckster
I really don't understand this level of patriotic extremism... i really don't. It borders fanaticism and reinforces my belief that this type of patriotism is harmful.

My argument here is not who is right or wrong regarding the disputed islands... it's how people can feel this much anger and rage over a lump of rock in the middle of the sea that will never really affect any of their life’s?!?!

I just don't get it? Brainwashed?

I suggest you do some research into the Japanese occupation of China. I challenge you to repeat the above then.....

What does damaging property and rioting solve? Just breaking stuff for the sake of breaking stuff has always puzzled me. Why is the Chinese government remaining mute on the subject? They had a big stink with the Philippines over Scarborough Shoal, but silence about this? Something is amiss.

It appears Japan has more precedence in terms of ownership of the islands than that of China. The article stated that this island was made a Japanese possession in the 1890s. I realize China remains cautious and upset about the Japanese and what happened during WWII. However, raising the Japanese flag on a territorial possession of Japan is not a reason to turn over cars, damage property, and set cities alight. The people that raised the flags did so on their own, and are right wing nationalists. The island remains undeveloped by the Japanese government.

In all fairness, this is a hot button issue between Japan and China, because there is an ongoing dispute over ownership. Still, I think this is a blip on the radar, and certainly not a reason to run amok. Perhaps as the article points out, maybe China is ratcheting up this outrage to take pressure off of them over a particular political issue or a government policy?

This is all politics. Countries where freedom of action and thought is tightly controlled (such as in China and Iran) can "turn on" and "turn off" protests at a whim. I bet the state controlled media were in position to make sure every Chinese was able to share in the outrage.

It is in China's interests to keep this type of territorial dispute going and in Japan's case it is in China's interests to play the "remember what the nasty Japs did a few decades ago" card.

The fact is that China has territorial disputes with practically evey nation it borders and some it does not.

Regards

reply to post by yorkshirelad


I know all about the Japanese occupation of China. It was terrible and the Japanese committed many atrocities.

However, how many of these people protesting do you think were around during that occupation? It was over 70 years ago!!!

By your logic no one would ever have peace... Jews should hate Germans, Ethiopians should hate Italians, Indians should hate the British, Moroccans should hate the French, Muslims hate Christians, Christians hate Muslims... I could go on and on all day...

There comes a time when you have to confine a conflict, and even an atrocity, to the annals of history, and not use it as some sorry excuse for chest thumping and blind patriotism.

Peace

This is why patriotism aka nationalism is bad.

ATS needs to do something about this double post issue.

Originally posted by RealSpoke
This is why patriotism aka nationalism is bad.

Exactly...

I confined that particular sentiment to the scrapheap around the same time as my eyes opened.

Until we can get away from thinking of ourselves as little tribes defined by colour, race, nationality, political affiliation etc... Until we can start to recognise that we share the same planet and want and need the same fundamental things e.g. food, water, and clean air... then i'm affraid we will remain our own worst enemy.

Peace

Originally posted by Muckster
it's how people can feel this much anger and rage over a lump of rock in the middle of the sea that will never really affect any of their life’s?!?!

This lump of rock happens to have HUGE gas deposits around it under the Sea bed...

Might be why everyone is arguing over it. Same as many of the islands in that part of the world and is probably why China has claimed pretty much everything, everywhere as their own, hence all the disputes and rightly so, as China is starting to throw it's weight around and needs checking.

Originally posted by RealSpoke
This is why patriotism aka nationalism is bad.

And this is why anyone who is NOT a patriot cannot call himself a human beign.

Also, patriotism is NOT nationalism.But what to ask from someone who have little knowledge about the above two.

Patriotism = LOVE of your COUNTRY.
Nationalism = HATE anyone who is NOT the same nationality as you are.


Everyone MUST be a patriot.There is no other way, except NWO.

I myself, as a romanian, I will give my life for even 1 square feet of my country land.That is patriotism.
But I will not fight to kill 1,3 million hungarians and 2,4 million gipsy that live in Romania.


I uderstand BOTH japanese and chinese.Both people consider to be their land.Both of them are patriots.

Originally posted by Muckster

Originally posted by RealSpoke
This is why patriotism aka nationalism is bad.

Exactly...

I confined that particular sentiment to the scrapheap around the same time as my eyes opened.

Until we can get away from thinking of ourselves as little tribes defined by colour, race, nationality, political affiliation etc... Until we can start to recognise that we share the same planet and want and need the same fundamental things e.g. food, water, and clean air... then i'm affraid we will remain our own worst enemy.

Peace

Read the above post.

It seems that A LOT of people have no idea what is patriotism and what is nationalism.


Also, if you want to change the ESSENCE of nation...sorry, but this is the wrong planet.

If you scroll WAY down to the bottom of the BBC article, you'll see the incident that precipitated this - a flotilla of Chinese nationalists eluded the coast guard and planted a flag on the island last week. They were predictably arrested and deported, but not before the Chinese press could get the images.

also of note - and missing from most western press on this - is that this is actually a three way dispute. Taiwan also claims the islands, which makes all of this complicated to a point seemingly beyond mediation. China doesn't recognize Taiwan, let alone Taiwan's claims.

so the question is: why now? Why would the Chinese government suddenly go after this unresolvable issue?

Well, there was the guilty verdict on Sunday against Gu Kailai, wife of widely known and popular politician Bo Xilai. She murdered a British businessman named Neil Heywood. The case was cold until the chief of police (Wang Lijun) requested asylum at the US consulate - because he had evidence that the murder was being hushed up. He was denied, and they've got him slated for a treason trial next - despite the fact that he was right, and 4 cops were found guilty of trying to hush things up. For a lot of people this case encapsulates the ingrained corruption in Chinese politics and there's a lot of anger over it. This all comes at a time when the Chinese are in something akin to Election mode. Hu Jintao is expected to step down in November, as well as a number of other long standing politicians. Add a sagging economy to the mix.....

It's almost as though someone said "WE NEED A DISTRACTION AND WE NEED IT NOW!!!!!!"

reply to post by RealSpoke


Patriotism and nationalism are two different things.

Nationalism is blind faith in the leaders of the country.

Patriotism is following the ideals of the country without blind loyalty to any of the leaders.

TOKYO — Japan is vowing to take steps to strengthen its claims over two sets of islands that are already causing tensions with its neighbors. Japan’s relations with Seoul have rapidly deteriorated since South Korean President Lee Myung-bak visited tiny islets in the Sea of Japan this month to push his country’s claim to them. Days later, a boatful of Chinese activists landed on a group of East China Sea islands claimed by Japan, China and Taiwan. In resolutions adopted by Parliament Friday, Japan called the actions by China and South Korea “extremely regrettable.”

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda says Japan will strengthen security around the East China Sea islands to prevent future landing attempts.

He also sent Lee a protest letter, which Seoul rejected.

Linky

it seems like everyone is at each others throats these days.