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Tensions remain a year after Japan’s purchase of islets claimed by China
TOKYO (Kyodo) — Wednesday marks a year since the Japanese government brought under state control the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, with no sign of improvement in the standoff between Tokyo and Beijing over the islets.
The Japanese government then led by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda acquired three of the five main islands in the uninhabited group from a private owner on Sept. 11, 2012, triggering fierce criticism from China, which calls the islands Diaoyu.
Japan, which saw a change of government in December and is now led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, maintains that the Senkakus are an inherent part of its territory in terms of history and international law, and there is no dispute regarding the ownership of the islands.
The row over the islands in the resource-rich East China Sea has led to a significant deterioration in relations between Asia’s two biggest economies.
While Japan has said it is open to dialogue with China, the latter has said it is not possible to resume talks between the countries’ leaders unless Japan recognizes there is a territorial dispute.
Abe held a brief conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping earlier this month in their first face-to-face contact, when they attended the summit of the Group of 20 major economies in St. Petersburg, Russia.
But the exchange revealed China’s discontent with Japan over differences in their perceptions of history as well as Tokyo’s handling of the territorial row, according to Chinese media.
Japanese officials are now aiming for a summit between the two countries on the sidelines of international meetings this fall, but uncertainty remains.
The 12 months since the Japanese government’s purchase have seen repeated intrusions by Chinese government vessels and aircraft into Japanese territory and subsequent protests by Tokyo.
In January, the tensions escalated as a Chinese warship locked weapons-guiding radar on a Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force vessel near the islands.
The United States has urged both countries to secure peace and security in the region, where North Korea has already poses a major concern due to its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
But China’s provocative action continued even after the contact between Xi and Abe.
On Tuesday, a total of eight Chinese government vessels briefly entered Japanese waters near the Senkakus, prompting Japan’s top government spokesman to refer to the option of stationing civil servants on the islands to strengthen administration — a move that would only harden China’s attitude.
On Monday, Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force scrambled fighters after a Chinese military drone flew near the islands. Although it did not violate international law, Tokyo effectively urged Beijing on Tuesday to curb such flights.
Kyodo News, September 11, 2013
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130911p2g00m0dm053000c.html
Okinawa
Okinawa Ospreys can be sent to islets claimed by China: U.S. general
NAHA, OKINAWA PREF. — The commanding general of the U.S. Marines in Okinawa, Lt. Gen. John Wissler, told Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima in a meeting Tuesday that MV-22 Osprey aircraft stationed at the Futenma air station could be dispatched to the disputed Senkaku Islands if needed.
“That aircraft has the ability to reach the Senkakus, should we need to support any sort of Japan-U.S. security treaty,” Wissler said during the meeting open to the media.
Wissler’s comment is thought to reflect the recent intensification of Chinese activities in the East China Sea, including intrusions by China Coast Guard vessels into the waters around the Japanese-controlled islets claimed by China.
Nakaima reiterated his opposition to stationing Ospreys at Futenma, saying “citizens’ concerns have not been cleared up,” but did not respond directly to WisslerÅfs proposal that the Ospreys could be dispatched to the Senkakus.
Kyodo News, September 17, 2013
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/09/17/national/okinawa-ospreys-can-be-sent-to-islets-claimed-by-china-u-s-general/#.Uj_-4X9jbRY
China questions Okinawa ownership
Two scholars from an official Chinese research center suggested re-examining the ownership of the Japanese island chain that includes Okinawa, adding to tensions over the Senkaku territorial dispute.
Agreements reached between the Allies during World War II mean the ownership of the Ryukyu Islands may be in question, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences researchers said in a commentary published Wednesday in the PeopleÅfs Daily, the Communist Party’s main newspaper. They said Japan’s loss in the war nullified an 1895 treaty in which China ceded territory to Japan.
“It may be time to revisit the unresolved historical issue of the Ryukyu Islands,” Zhang Haipeng and Li Guoqiang wrote in the commentary.
A move to reconsider ownership of the Ryukyus would add to strains as China and Japan each assert their claims over the uninhabited Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. The central governmentÅfs decision last year to purchase three of the islets sparked protests across China.
Tensions were compounded last month when Diet members, including Cabinet ministers, visited Yasukuni Shrine, which is viewed as a symbol of wartime aggression, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed to protect the Senkaku Islands by force.
“The fact that this view is carried by the People’s Daily signals that Beijing may be upping the ante,” Willy Wo-Lap Lam, an adjunct professor of history at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, wrote in an email. “This is psychological warfare and a classic Chinese negotiation tactic – trying to intimidate the opponent by raising the stakes.”
Okinawa, the largest island in the Ryukyu chain, hosts several U.S. military installations. The scholars’ comments came in an article about China’s claim to the Senkaku Islands.
The Ryukyus unquestionably belong to Japan, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Wednesday. The archipelago has a population of about 1.5 million people and its northernmost point sits 30 km from Kyushu.
The scholars aren’t necessarily saying that the Ryukyus belong to China, said Taylor Fravel, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who studies China’s territorial claims. They are raising the possibility that Japan’s ownership could be disputed because the islands’ rulers in past centuries had tributary relations with imperial China, he said.
“These are perhaps the most serious scholars to date to make this insinuation,” Fravel said.
Bloomberg, May 8, 2013
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/05/08/national/china-questions-okinawa-ownership/#.UZGNjkpOj1U
Tokyo protests People’s Daily report doubting Japan’s Okinawa rule
TOKYO (Kyodo) — The Japanese government has lodged a protest with China about a commentary run by the Chinese Communist Party’s official organ questioning Japan’s sovereignty over Okinawa Prefecture, top government spokesman Yoshihide Suga said Thursday.
Tokyo told Beijing through diplomatic channels Wednesday it “strongly protests” if the commentary printed in the day’s edition of the People’s Daily represents the Chinese government’s stance, Chief Cabinet Secretary Suga said at a press conference.
The Chinese side said in response that the commentary was written by the author in his capacity as a researcher, according to Suga.
The commentary calls for a reconsideration of Japan’s sovereignty over Okinawa, saying that it was nullified with Tokyo’s defeat in World War II.
Kyodo News, May 9, 2013
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130509p2g00m0dm065000c.html
China and Senkaku/Daiyu
China urges Japan to recognize “territorial dispute” over Senkakus
WASHINGTON (Kyodo) — Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged Japan on Friday to recognize the existence of a territorial issue over the sovereignty of the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, which China claims.
“Japan needs to recognize” there is an issue to be resolved with China over the Senkakus, Wang said in a lecture in Washington through an interpreter.
Japan has said the Senkakus are clearly an inherent part of the territory of Japan and there exists no issue of sovereignty to be resolved concerning the islets.
Wang said that China and Japan had agreed in the past to shelve the issue of sovereignty but Japan denies any such agreement, which has worsened bilateral relations.
China is ready to sit down for dialogue and negotiations but Japan should first officially recognize the existence of the sovereignty issue, the former Chinese ambassador to Japan said.
Kyodo News, September 21, 2013
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130921p2g00m0in052000c.html
China, Japan experts mull ways to avoid armed Senkaku confrontation
Chinese and Japanese experts on maritime and international relations huddled this week in Tokyo to discuss ways to keep the simmering tensions over the Senkaku Islands from escalating into a military clash.
Setting aside the issue of sovereignty over the East China Sea islets – called Diaoyu by China – that have been under Japan’s control since 1895, the roughly 20 experts who met Monday vowed to study ways to ensure an unintended clash doesn’t erupt between the two nations’ patrol ships that are routinely confronting each other near the uninhabited Senkakus.
Japan Coast Guard cutters continuously confronted Chinese fisheries patrol ships in the area. But recently, those vessels have been replaced by ships, presumably armed, of the new Chinese Coast Guard, upping the ante for provocation.
Following their one-day meeting Monday, the bilateral group of experts plans to meet again in October in Beijing before drawing up recommendations to be submitted to both governments in February.
Zhu Feng, a professor of international relations at Peking University’s School of International Studies, said an “accidental”h maritime clash is highly likely to happen around the islets. And if a vessel is sunk or someone is killed as a result, this will doom bilateral ties for a long time, he said.
“That is why we are holding (this discussion). . . . We shouldn’t be having just (a) sense of aversion (toward) each other,” Zhu said, adding there are more things both sides should discuss besides sovereignty over the islets.
Mizuho Aoki, Japan Times Staff Writer, August 20, 2013
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/08/20/national/china-japan-experts-mull-ways-to-avoid-armed-senkaku-confrontation/#.UhQCHn9jbRY
Senkakus a “core interest,” Chinese military scholar tells Japan
BEIJING — A Chinese scholar affiliated with the military told a nonpartisan group Japanese lawmakers earlier this month that the group of islands at the center of their fierce bilateral dispute is a “core interest” of Beijing, sources said Monday.
The scholar from the China Institute for International Strategic Studies, headed by Lt. Gen. Qi Jianguo, deputy chief of the General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army, told the lawmakers in Beijing that the Senkaku Islands, controlled by Japan for more than 100 years in the East China Sea, are “within the range of its core interests,” sources close to the meeting said.
China has traditionally reserved the term “core interests” for critically important issues of national sovereignty and territorial integrity, such as Taiwan, Tibet and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Beijing is unwilling to compromise on core interests and attaches enough importance to them to resort to force, if necessary.
This is believed to be the first indication from a military-affiliated authority that the islands are viewed as part of China’s core interests.
The Chinese government began openly referring to the uninhabited islands as a core interest in April, but the reference – made at a news conference by a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman – was soon dropped from its official transcripts and Beijing has remained vague on the issue.
Kyodo News, August 20, 2013
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/08/20/national/senkakus-a-core-interest-chinese-military-scholar-tells-japan/#.UhP3d39jbRY
3 Chinese ships enter Japanese waters near Senkakus
NAHA, Japan (Kyodo) — Three Chinese maritime surveillance ships entered Japanese territorial waters on Monday near the Senkaku Islands, a Japanese-controlled islet group claimed by China, the Japan Coast Guard said.
In a separate incident near the area, an unidentified submarine was spotted by a P-3C Maritime Self-Defense Force patrol aircraft sailing in Japan’s contiguous zone south of Kume Island in Okinawa Prefecture midnight Sunday. A Defense Ministry official said the vessel was likely a Chinese submarine.
The submarine left the contiguous zone around Kume on Monday morning, the ministry said.
Sailing in Japan’s contiguous zone — a stretch of water outside its territorial seas where Japanese law may be applied — poses no problem in terms of international law but the ministry is stepping up its guard.
The three ships — the Haijian 15, 50 and 66 — entered Japanese territorial waters in the East China Sea around 9 a.m. in succession from north of Kuba Island in the Senkaku group, according to the 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters in Naha.
The coast guard said it warned the ships by radio to leave the area but did not receive a reply.
Kyodo News, May 13, 2013
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130513p2g00m0dm049000c.html
Economy
China: Japan hurts trade with words
BEIJING — Hurtful words and actions by Japan and its politicians are partly to blame for the way Chinese trade with Japan has been slumping since early this year, a Chinese Commerce Ministry spokesman said Friday.
In the first seven months, bilateral trade fell 8.8 percent year-on-year to $174 billion, spokesman Shen Danyang said, saying China’s imports of Japanese goods sank 13.2 percent to $90.81 billion and exports to Japan fell 3.5 percent to $83.19 billion.
Shen said a recent analysis by his ministry identified three main factors for the decline in Sino-Japanese trade.
Among them, he said, “wrong words and actions” by the Japanese government and its politicians have “seriously hurt the feelings of Chinese people” and turned Chinese consumers away from Japanese goods, sparking declines in car, appliance and machinery parts sales.
Trade between the world’s second- and third-largest economies has fallen sharply since Japan effectively nationalized the Senkaku islets last September.
Another factor Shen cited was the U.S. and EU market slumps, which he said chilled demand for Chinese goods and pressured China’s imports of raw materials and components from Japan.
Kyodo News, August 24, 2013
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/08/24/national/china-japan-hurts-trade-with-words/#.Uhsdz39jbRY
S. Korea and Takeshima
S. Korean opposition party leader visits disputed Takeshima Islands
SEOUL — The head of South Korea’s major opposition party has visited a pair of islets in the Sea of Japan that are claimed by Tokyo ahead Thursday’s anniversary of the liberation of the Korean Peninsula from Japanese colonial rule.
The visit Tuesday by Kim Han-gil, head of the Democratic Party, to the islets, known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea, was an apparent move to display Seoul’s jurisdiction of the islands.
Accompanied by party members, Kim sang South Korea’s national anthem after landing on the islets, according to the party. Kim said the isles are South Korean territory that any South Korean citizen can visit them at any time.
Kim also accused Japan of tilting to the right recently and showing signs of resurrecting militarism. This cannot be condoned, Kim said, criticizing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s move to change the interpretation of the Constitution to allow Japan to exercise the right to collective self-defense.
The move means that Japan is spiritually declaring itself hostile to the feelings of its Asian neighbors, who suffered under its past invasions, Kim said.
Abe’s government had asked the party to cancel Kim’s visit through its embassy in Seoul. Tokyo has also called for a visit to the islands by members of the ruling Saenuri Party, slated for later Wednesday, to be canceled.
In Tokyo, Makita Shimokawa, deputy director general of the Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceanian Affairs Bureau, summoned a minister from the South Korean Embassy to lodge a complaint over the visit by the Democratic Party members.
Jiji Press, August 14, 2013
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/08/14/national/s-korean-opposition-party-leader-visits-disputed-takeshima-islands-3/#.Ug1mSn9jbRY
Abe under pressure to improve ties with China, S. Korea
Now that his ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has succeeded in controlling both houses of the Diet with the help of its coalition partner New Komeito, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe faces the biggest diplomatic challenge of improving strained relations with China and South Korea.
Abe is looking to find an opportunity to hold summit talks with Chinese and South Korean leaders but prospects for such summits at an early date are dim due to soured ties with Beijing and Seoul over territorial rows and historical issues.
Before assuming the premiership late last year, Abe signaled his willingness to visit Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, casting a cloud over Japan’s relations with its two Asian neighbors depending on whether he will follow through on his plan or not.
Abe’s talks with Chinese and South Korean leaders have not materialized since he launched his Cabinet on Dec. 26. The Japanese government is exploring the possibility of Abe’s summit talks with Chinese and South Korean leaders on the sidelines of a summit meeting of the Group of 20 (G-20) major and emerging countries in St. Petersburg, Russia, in early September.
But both China and South Korea are apprehensive about Yasukuni visits by Abe and other Japanese politicians, and Chinese and South Korean diplomatic sources say summit talks between Abe and their leaders cannot be set until they see how the Yasukuni issue plays out. There are no signs of a breakthrough in a dispute between Japan and China over the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.
While Tokyo’s diplomacy vis-a-vis Beijing and Seoul has stalled, Prime Minister Abe will actively visit foreign countries to promote diplomacy “as if to have a bird-eye view of the globe.” He will visit Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines in late July. He will also travel to Bahrain and Kuwait — major crude exporters to Japan — in late August to strengthen economic ties. He will also deliver a speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York in late September.
Japan will participate in negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade accord on July 23 for the first time and seek the exclusion of rice, wheat and three other farm products from the elimination of tariffs. TPP negotiating countries are aiming to seal a deal within this year and Japan has a lot to catch up on before the deadline.
Mainichi Shimbun, July 22, 2013
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130722p2a00m0na017000c.html
Public opinion
90% of Japanese, Chinese view each other’s countries unfavorably
TOKYO (Kyodo) — Over 90 percent of Japanese and Chinese people have an unfavorable impression of each other’s countries, according to a joint opinion survey conducted by Japanese nonprofit organization Genron NPO and Chinese English-language newspaper The China Daily released Monday, the worst readings since similar polls began in 2005.
In the poll, conducted between June and July, 90.1 percent of those polled in Japan said they had an unfavorable impression of China, up 5.8 percentage points from last year, while 92.8 percent of those polled in China said they had an unfavorable impression of Japan, up 28.3 points.
The main reasons cited were the territorial row over the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea that are claimed by China, which refers to them as Diaoyu, as well as issues arising from Japan’s wartime conduct.
Bilateral tensions have heightened since the Japanese government purchased three of the five main islands in the Senkaku group from a private landowner on Sept. 11, 2012, to bring them under direct state control.
In response to a multiple-answer question on the reasons for their unfavorable impression of China, 53.2 percent of the Japanese respondents cited the standoff over the Senkaku Islands, followed by 48.9 percent who cited China’s criticism of Japan over history-related issues.
In the corresponding question for Chinese respondents, 77.6 percent said they held an unfavorable impression of Japan because it had caused the territorial row over the islands and adopted a hard-line stance, while 63.8 percent cited Japan’s failure to properly apologize for its wartime occupation of China and reflect upon it.
While 79.7 percent of Japanese said the countries are on bad terms, up 26.0 points, and 90.3 percent of Chinese responded likewise, up 49.3 points, over 70 percent of the respondents in both countries said bilateral relations are important.
As for ways to resolve the territorial row, the most popular answer given by Japanese respondents was resolving it peacefully after swift negotiations, while the most popular answer among Chinese was strengthening China’s control of the islands.
Asked whether a military conflict would develop between the countries, 23.7 percent of Japanese said they think it will and 52.7 percent of Chinese responded likewise.
The poll surveyed 1,000 people in Japan and 1,540 people in China.
Kyodo News, August 6, 2013
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20130806p2g00m0dm028000c.html
Bad feelings dominate Japan-South Korea public sentiment
Nearly 80 percent of South Koreans have a negative impression of Japan, while about 40 percent of Japanese have an unfavorable image of South Korea, according to the results of a bilateral poll released Tuesday.
The first joint survey conducted by Japanese think tank Genron NPO and South Korean think tank East Asia Institute found that the major reasons behind the negative feelings are the territorial dispute over a couple of rocky islets, called Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea, and differences in historical perceptions.
Around 40 percent of both the Japanese and South Korean respondents said their impression of the other country went sour in the past year.
The survey covered 1,000 Japanese aged over 18 and 1,004 South Koreans aged over 19 between late March and April 15.
About 90 percent of both the South Korean and Japanese respondents said their source of information on the others country is domestic media, and TV is the single biggest news source.
A total of 50.3 percent of the South Korean pollees said Japan is currently is under military rule, while about 40 percent of Japanese see the current South Korea as excessively nationalistic.
Meanwhile, 36.2 percent of the South Koreans said they feel closer to China than Japan. Only 13.5 percent of the South Korean respondents said they feel more closer to Japan than China.
On the contrary, 45.5 percent of the Japanese respondents said they feel closer to South Korea than China, while a mere 5.9 percent felt closer to China.
Mizuho Aoki, Japan Times Staff Writer, May 8, 2013
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/05/08/national/bad-feelings-dominate-japan-south-korea-public-sentiment/#.UZGLr0pOj1U
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