Sino-Japanese conflict over disputed islands escalates

[PaddyJoe]

All looking a bit tense in Beijing today as the Japanese embassy is besieged by thousands of protestors. This could get quite nasty unless the two governments decide to lower the temperature a bit.

The long-standing territorial dispute escalated dramatically on Friday when China sent six surveillance ships to a group of uninhabited islets in the East China Sea, raising tension between the two countries to its highest level since 2010.

China's official Xinhua news agency said big anti-Japan protests were also held in the Chinese cities of Xian, Changsha, Nanjing and Qingdao. Japanese media reported attacks on Japanese restaurants and other businesses.

"Armed police and police officers have been dispatched to protest sites to maintain order," Xinhua said

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/...88E01I20120915

[C. Flower]

Japanese owned factories in China have been attacked - some are closing down - in protest at the Japanese government's declaration that it intends to buy the islands from their private Japanese owner. China has consistently claimed sovereignty over the islands.




http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19620114

http://www.politicalworld.org/showth...ht=CHina+Japan

[Count Bobulescu]

To begin, two photos that have been widely circulated in the Chinese online world. One is taken outside an Audi dealership, where people who appear to be the dealership's employees hold a banner that says "we must exterminate the Japanese":

The full legend on the banner, as translated by Charlie Custer of China Geeks, reads: "Even if China becomes nothing but tombstones, we must exterminate the Japanese; even if we have to destroy our own country, we must take back the Diaoyu Islands."

You can read more about these small islands -- the Diaoyus to China, Senkakus to Japan -- at Custer's site, including his argument that "China's Anti-Japan Riots are State Sponsored. Period." Beginning of his case: At any genuinely unauthorized protest in China, you see police and security forces by the ton. As he puts it, with emphasis in original:

http://www.theatlantic.com/internati...-china/262453/

[Count Bobulescu]

Some good photos on topic just up at In Focus.

What's at Stake in China-Japan Spat: $345 Billion to Start
An economic war between China and Japan could have serious consequences, as Asia's two largest economies are integrally tied together in trade and investment. Total trade between the two: $345 billion.

http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2...lion-to-start/

Japan-Linked Shares Tumble in Shanghai, Hong Kong
Japan-related stocks fell sharply in both Shanghai and Hong Kong Monday, as anti-Japanese protests erupted across China over the weekend and Beijing stepped up rhetoric on territorial claims and trade threats. Motor-vehicle and electronic appliance makers were among the hardest hit after angry crowds in some Chinese cities ransacked Japanese restaurants, smashed Japanese cars and pelted Tokyo's embassy in Beijing with eggs and plastic bottles in weekend protests over disputed islands in the East China Sea.

http://blogs.wsj.com/chinarealtime/2...hai-hong-kong/

[Dr. FIVE]

meanwhile in the Chinese economy...

[C. Flower]

meanwhile in the Chinese economy...

Yes - that's what is worrying about this. Historic tensions, and brand new economic crisis.

[Dr. FIVE]

Not even the Chinese brand of nationalism will paper of cracks in this one I suspect. Nice try though

[Count Bobulescu]

September 17, 2012 -- 5:30 p.m. EDT
Japanese Firms Hunker Down in China

HONG KONG—Reeling from anti-Japan protests that struck parts of China over the weekend, some of Japan's largest companies shut down their factories on Monday, advised their employees to stay home and closed their shops, in a move that has raised broader questions about the ties between the world's second and third-biggest economies.

Panasonic Corp. shut down its factory in Qingdao, Shandong province, after demonstrators over the weekend shattered the factory's windows, destroyed some of its equipment and set it on fire, according to Panasonic's Beijing-based spokesman.

At least two Japanese auto makers decided Monday to temporarily halt production at Chinese factories. Honda Motor Co. said it would stop operations on Tuesday and Wednesday at five plants in the country, including three in Guangzhou and two in Wuhan, a company spokesman said. A Mazda Motor Corp. spokesman said the company will halt production at its factory in Nanjing for four days starting Tuesday.

[coolvr]

Maybe I'm being too cynical, and it wouldn't be the first time, but given the political and economic situation in China and indeed in Japan this whole dispute over a few islands seems like the perfect cover story to try and disguise more important things that are happening elsewhere in the region.

A classic case of misdirection involving a phony war cooked up by two friends to help each other out in a time of crisis and make the stupid western governments believe that they really do hate each other when in fact they're pretty much joined at the hip politically and economically.

[Holly]

People's zombie-like loyalty to a country's political class is astonishing. The number of outraged Chinese who are expressing fierce nationalism have not the slightest concept of how they are being manipulated by the Communist Chinese politburo.

[fluffybiscuits]

Maybe I'm being too cynical, and it wouldn't be the first time, but given the political and economic situation in China and indeed in Japan this whole dispute over a few islands seems like the perfect cover story to try and disguise more important things that are happening elsewhere in the region.

A classic case of misdirection involving a phony war cooked up by two friends to help each other out in a time of crisis and make the stupid western governments believe that they really do hate each other when in fact they're pretty much joined at the hip politically and economically.

Not sure if I would call you cynical but maybe wary would be a better word. Looking at the Chinese news sites in English (eg:http://europe.chinadaily.com.cn/china/index.html) there is not much there that could be distracted away from. Japan and China are at each others necks due to the historical tensions of the two. Feelings are still high after the rape of Nanking by the Japanese and both are vying to be economic superpowers in the region. If you can point me towards what they are being distracted from I would be certainly open to looking at it from a different angle.

[Count Bobulescu]

China is making bolder moves in the East China Sea. Amid the rhetoric over the islands in the East China Sea, the territorial dispute between China and Japan has grown more ominous with a quiet assertion by the Chinese of a legal framework to formally demarcate its territorial waters, writes Stephanie Kleine-Ahlbrandt on FP. This is a change in approach for China, which normally maintains "calculated ambiguity" when it comes to such territorial issues. To back up the move, China sent six surveillance vessels into the waters and plans to patrol the waters and protect some 1,000 Chinese fishing boats.

http://www.foreignpolicy.com/article...ngerous_waters

[coolvr]

A good point fluffy and not sure I can offer much in the way of proof/evidence so perhaps I am just being cynical, I did just recently watch the Adam Curtis documentary The Power of Nightmares

I guess what started me thinking like this was stuff like the Bo Xilai/Wang Lijun affair, the Ling Gu Ferrari crash and the implications for his father Ling Jihua, Hu Jintao and then of course at the start of this month Xi Jinping who is set to take over from Hu Jintao in October/November goes missing for two weeks just as the dispute between China/Japan moves up a few notches.

Maybe it is all just coincidental but for a country that doesn't generally like to have it's political scandals splashed across the front pages around the world 2012 has been a bit of a bad year for China so what better way to divert media attention from the scandals and the political infighting than to engage in a phony war with an old enemy that is quite happy to play the game.

I accept that there are a lot of historical tensions and bad feelings between the people of both countries but I'm not convinced that is as important in the overall scheme of things as the political and economic ties that exist between China and Japan.

[Shaadi]

While I agree the Chinese Govt are playing this up for their own purposes, I wouldn't underestimate the undercurrent of Chinese sentiment towards Japan. It goes deeper than a dispute over territorial waters and resources. The wounds the Japanese Imperial Army's behaviour inflicted on the National psyches of its Asian neighbours are still raw. On the flip side the Japanese have never admitted the obscenity of their Imperial past.

Two positions that will never be reconciled, and are unreconcilable without a complete and convincing showing of humility and regret by the Japanese. Buying the disputed Islands was a provocative gesture, what do you expect the Chinese to do when Japan has just flipped the bird at them? China believes it can restore National pride by standing up to their old Imperial oppressors and they're probably right.

[Count Bobulescu]

One unexpected image to surface in Tuesday’s demonstration was that of late party chairman Mao Zedong, in portraits carried by protesters and in Maoist references in chants and on banners. The spectacle of hundreds of Mao portraits held aloft recalled the days of traumatic upheaval during China’s Cultural Revolution and appeared to shock some.

“I don’t know why they are holding up Mao’s picture, to be honest,” said Yang Qingyang, 24, a protester marching in front of the embassy. “I think they are just feeling nostalgic about the past. I’m not into that myself.”

Many protesters said the invocations of Mao were meant to shame current leaders into standing up to foreign powers as Mao once did. However, the presence of those protesters, who seemed to have arrived in a group, also suggested an attempt by the leftist, Maoist wing of the party, among others, to use the anti-Japan rallies as an excuse to advocate for their fallen leader Bo Xilai.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/...rc=nl_politics