And Now… China Detains Four Japanese Citizens
September 24th, 2010
Via: Bloomberg:
Japan said four of its citizens are being held in China for allegedly videotaping military targets as tensions heightened over a territorial dispute that has damaged ties between Asia’s two biggest economies.
The four are employees of Fujita Corp., Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said today in Tokyo. They were visiting Hebei, China on company business unrelated to military issues, Fujita spokesman Yoshiaki Onodera said.
The detention comes as China ratchets up pressure on Japan to release a fishing boat captain who collided with Japanese Coast Guard vessels near islets claimed by both countries. The islands, known as Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese, are in the East China Sea near natural gas fields. The two countries signed an agreement in 2008 to jointly develop the fields that has yet to be implemented.
“We’re confirming details, but China informed us that the four Japanese are under investigation related to military facility laws,” Sengoku told reporters today in Tokyo. “We don’t think this has a link to the Senkaku issue raised by China.”
as i said before, the Japanese government are totally inept in actually advancing their own long-term interests. this is partly a reflection of the buraucratic feifdoms that dominate the landscape in Japanses politics and government. nothing is ever done on a basis of long-term, broad benefit, but rather driven by the narrow interests of little cliques. it is clearly a mess and embarrassment of huge propoertions that no one ever talks about.
BUT, this Chinese escalation bullshit reeks to high heaven of trying to distract their middle class from something the senior Chinese government do not want the locals to pay too close attention to.
i wonder what it might be…
i was curious what the russian view on this might be so i went to pravda to see if there was anything there on it:
http://english.pravda.ru//world/asia/22-09-2010/115024-china_japan_war-0/
The conflict between China and Japan surfaced back in the late 1960s – early 1970 after rich deposits of hydrocarbons were discovered on the Senkaku Islands. Territorial claims against Japan were simultaneously put forward by the Communist China and its rival, the Kuomintang in Taiwan. They referred to the fact that until 1895, these islands belonged to the Chinese side for hundreds of years.
What are the prospects of this incident in light of the already difficult relations between China and Japan? And most importantly, who will get the “islands of contention?” Pravda.ru asked Alexandra Kulanova, a member of the Association of Japan Studies, to share her comments.
“I do not see any prospects for development of this scenario. The fact is that now both China and Japan are equally dependent on each other economically. Tokyo is very interested in the development of industrial production in the Chinese territory, while Beijing sees Japanese investment as very beneficial. In this regard, Japan can “smooth” parts of the conflict, and China will accept it and would not implement its threats into practice.
The problem of the Senkaku Islands seems to be similar to that with the Kuriles. The difference is that Japan treats the Kuril issue appealing to the “trampled national dignity.” Here, Beijing tries to remind Tokyo that in 1930-40s it was the aggressor and this is why this archipelago is still under Japanese control.
As for the prospects of the dispute, Japan is not going to give up control over the archipelago. For example, the Japanese are specially breeding corals to increase the area of the islands. After all, it is not just about owning a few rocks in the sea, but who will develop the existing shelf rich deposits of oil and gas.
However, much will depend on further economic development in the two Asian giants. In recent years, China began to push forward. But Japan has too many trump cards like one of the world’s largest gold reserves. In turn, China has a significant political asset as a permanent member of UN Security Council. Most likely, in the future the development of political speculation around these islands with no clear solution to the problem will continue.”