http://mdn.mainichi.jp/perspectives/news/20100930p2a00m0na003000c.html

U.S. takes neutral stand toward sovereignty over Senkaku Islands

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated during recent Japan-U.S. foreign ministerial talks that Article 5 of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty applies to the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture, which are disputed between Japan and China.

However, her statement is far from reassuring for Japan. Article 5 applies only to “the territories under the administration of Japan.” Clinton stopped short of saying the United States recognizes the Senkaku Islands as Japan’s territories. In other words, she only repeated the U.S. position on the issue.

Chinese fishing surveillance ships are now regularly confronting Japan Coast Guard (JCG) patrol boats of the islands. China is demonstrating to Japan that it is exercising its administrative rights over the islands by dispatching government boats to the area. If the situation continues, Senkaku will no longer be subject to Article 5 of the treaty. In fact, the treaty does not apply to the Northern Territories — four Russian-held islands off Hokkaido — and the Takeshima islets, which are virtually ruled by South Korea.

If an armed conflict were to occur between JCG patrol boats and Chinese surveillance vessels off Senkaku, would U.S. forces in Japan be dispatched to the area? It is highly unlikely.

In 2005, Japan and the U.S. agreed during bilateral security talks that Japan should respond to any attack on Japanese remote islands on its own, as Ukeru Magosaki, former director general of the Foreign Ministry’s Intelligence and Analysis Bureau pointed out in a TV program.

This is the reality of the Japan-U.S. alliance. It would be too risky if Japan excessively counts on the United States for support on the issue and simply take a firm stand against China over the matter. Rather, Japan should flexibly pursue a path of compromise.

The issue of sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands emerged in 1971 when Tokyo and Washington signed an agreement on the reversion of Okinawa. Under the accord, the United States returned the administrative rights over the Ryukyu Islands — including the Senkaku Islands — and the Daito Islands in Okinawa to Japan.

The Republic of China, or Taiwan — which Japan then recognized as the legitimate Chinese administration — protested the move. “Diaoyutai lieyu” (the Taiwanese name for Senkaku) is not part of the Ryukyu Islands, but historically and geographically part of Taiwan,” it said.

The People’s Republic of China, with which Japan had no diplomatic relations at the time, also claimed that the Diaoyudao (the Chinese name for the islands) is part of its territory because it is part of Taiwan.

Japan countered by arguing that the Senkaku Islands are part of Japan’s territory because they are part of the Ryukyu Islands returned from the United States.

Washington remained neutral regarding the sovereign rights over the islands. The U.S. Department of State told Tokyo at the time that any territorial dispute over the islands should be addressed by the parties concerned, noting that administrative rights and sovereignty are separate, according to the book “Post-war Japan-Taiwan relations and international laws” by the late former Taiwanese diplomat Lin Jinjing (Yuhikaku Publishing Co.).

Around the same time, Henry Kissinger, then national security adviser to the U.S. president, was involved in behind-the-scenes negotiations with the People’s Republic of China to improve their relations.

In February 1972, President Richard Nixon paid a surprise visit to China. When the United States returned Okinawa to Japan in May of that year, it removed a nuclear missile targeting China from Okinawa to show consideration to China.

Washington is also showing its consideration to Beijing by taking a neutral position on the sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands. It appears that the United States has a different face it shows only to China. (By Hidetoshi Kaneko, expert senior writer)

Asia Pacific September 24, 2010
url: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/25/world/asia/25chinajapan.html

Amid Tension, Japan Is Releasing Chinese Captain
By MARTIN FACKLER and IAN JOHNSON

TOKYO — Japanese authorities said on Friday that they will release the captain of a Chinese trawler whose arrest two weeks ago near islands claimed by China and Japan had caused growing tensions between the two Asian powers.
Japanese prosecutors said they decided not to press charges against the captain, identified as Zhan Qixiong, 41, who was detained on Sept. 8 after his boat collided with Japanese Coast Guard vessels that were pursuing him near the disputed islands in the East China Sea.

The arrest had sent Japan’s ties with China to their lowest point in years. China reacted angrily to the arrest by cutting off ministerial-level talks, with Premier Wen Jiabao threatening further unspecified actions if he was not released.

While appealing for calm, Japanese leaders had initially stood firm in saying that their country’s laws applied to the captain, who was detained in waters administered by Japan but claimed by China and also Taiwan.

It was unclear if Tokyo had decided to give in to China’s demands, or even if central government officials had any hand in the captain’s release. However, prosecutors on Ishigaki island, where the captain was being held, did cite diplomatic considerations in their decision not to indict him on charges of obstructing officials on duty.

“Considering the effect on the people of our nation and on China-Japan relations, we decided that it was not appropriate to continue the investigation,” the prosecutors said in a statement.

Facing growing nationalist outrage at the arrest, authorities in Beijing had been raising the pressure on Tokyo for the captain’s unconditional release. Earlier this week, Chinese officials said Mr. Wen would probably not meet Japan’s prime minister, Naoto Kan, during a United Nations development conference in New York.

China has argued that the issue is one for diplomacy, not Japan’s legal system. Known as Senkaku in Japanese or Diaoyu in Chinese, the islands have been in dispute for decades, but until now Japan has usually turned back Chinese vessels that approached too closely.

Sentiment in Japan, however, has hardened against China in recent years, as Chinese warships have made more frequent forays into Japanese waters, including an incident in April when a Chinese helicopter buzzed a Japanese warship.

Chinese analysts said the move could help ease tension between the two economic partners. Wang Xiangsui, a foreign policy analyst at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, said China especially objected to Japan using its domestic laws to deal with the captain. This implied that the territories were Japanese and not subject to negotiation.

“This was a move that Japan had to make or China would have taken further steps,” Mr. Wang said. “Now the two sides can discuss this more calmly.”

The most recent flare-up comes as China faces disputes with its neighbors to the south over control of islands in the South China Sea. It has also objected to American military exercises in waters near Korea.

The Japanese prosecutors’ decision followed news in Beijing on Thursday that four Japanese citizens had been arrested for videotaping military installations.

The report by the official Xinhua news agency said four Japanese citizens were detained at a military base near the city of Shijiazhuang, about 190 miles southwest of Beijing.

“Currently, the case is being investigated,” said a statement issued by authorities and carried on the Web site of China Daily, a government-controlled newspaper. Japan’s Foreign Ministry confirmed that four of its citizens were being held.

The four being detained are employees of the Fujita construction firm, a spokesman for the company said.

It was unclear whether those arrests were linked to the detention of the captain.

The last communication Fujita had with the workers was a cell phone text message from one of them on Tuesday that read, “help,” said a company spokesman, Yoshiaki Onodera.

The employees and their interpreter, a Chinese national, were in Hebei to research possible sites to excavate for weapons left behind by the Japanese army during World War II, Mr. Onodera said. The Japanese government has been funding a program to remove such weapons in China and Fujita is one of the contractors.

Economic ties between the countries — the world’s second- and third-largest economies — appeared to be fraying over the matter. Some metals traders say China has halted sales of rare earth metals to Japan, although China denies this.

Martin Fackler reported from Tokyo, and Ian Johnson from Beijing. Hiroko Tabuchi contributed reporting from Tokyo.

© Copyright 2010 The New York Times Company

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-china-japan-spat-20100923,0,5400482.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Fmostviewed+%28L.A.+Times+-+Most+Viewed+Stories%29

Tensions between China, Japan escalate

Amid a dispute over Japan’s detention of a Chinese fishing boat captain, Beijing reportedly cuts off exports of so-called rare earth elements to Japan, which are used in high-tech products including hybrid vehicles.

By John M. Glionna and David Pierson, Los Angeles Times

September 23, 2010

Reporting from Seoul and Beijing —
A day after China’s premier warned that his nation would punish Japan if it did not release a detained Chinese fishing boat captain, Beijing on Thursday cut off exports of minerals to Japan that are used in such products as hybrid cars, according to a media report that was later denied by Chinese officials.

In recent days, Chinese officials have raised continuing alarm over Japan’s holding of the trawler captain, whose boat collided two weeks ago with Japanese coast guard vessels near a chain of islands in the East China Sea that are claimed by both nations.

“If Japan clings to its course, China will take further action,” Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said during a speech to the Chinese American community in New York on Tuesday. He added that Tokyo “bears full responsibility for the situation, and it will bear all consequences.”

Wen’s comments were the first by a Chinese leader on the controversy.

As Japan reportedly prepares to put the captain on trial, Beijing has reacted angrily, this week suspending ministerial-level contacts with Tokyo. And Chinese officials said Wen would not meet with Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan during U.N. meetings in New York this week.

Over the weekend, protesters in Beijing rallied outside the Japanese Embassy and marched to the Foreign Ministry, belting out the Chinese national anthem and hollering nationalistic slogans to protest the captain’s prolonged detention.

As tensions worsened, a report in the New York Times on Thursday said Chinese customs officials will prevent all shipments to Japan of so-called rare earth elements used in a wide range of high-technology products, including hybrid cars, wind turbines and guided missiles.

China denied Thursday that it had banned exports of rare earth minerals to Japan. “China does not have a trade embargo on rare earth exports to Japan,” China’s Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economics Cooperation spokesman Chen Rongkai told Bloomberg news agency.

If the news report proves true, though, the move would appear to be aimed at Japan’s already ailing economy.

“There is obviously going to be significant damage to the economic relationship between the two countries because of the current diplomatic spat,” said Liu Jiangyong, professor at Tshingua University in Beijing. “Not just in one industry, either, but in the overall business relations.”

In the past, China has been accused of limiting rare earth exports to boost global prices. Chinese officials have said limits were necessary to protect the nation’s environment.

The Japanese media have reported in recent weeks that China has repeatedly rejected Japan’s requests for Beijing to consider lifting its export controls on rare earth material. Beijing has cited national security concerns and the protection of natural resources for its export restrictions. It has also argued that the export controls do not violate World Trade Organization rules.

Japan and China agreed on Aug. 28 to launch high-level meetings to discuss Beijing’s export controls on rare earth materials. On Sept. 7, visiting Japanese business leaders urged China to review its deep cuts in rare earth export quotas for the second half of the year.

Chinese officials pointed out that there are other countries that export rare earth minerals and that Japan should diversify its sources. j

david.pierson@latimes.com

john.glionna@latimes.com

Pierson reported from Beijing and Glionna reported from Seoul.

Special correspondent Kenji Hall in Tokyo contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2010, Los Angeles Times

http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/

September 20, 2010, 2:05 pm
More on the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands
By NICHOLAS KRISTOF

I blogged recently about the dust-up in Asia between China and Japan over the uninhabited islands known as the Senkakus in Japan and the Diaoyu islands in China. Both claim them, as does Taiwan for good measure. I argued that China appeared to have a slightly better claim to them, although they might also plausibly be terra nullis, not belonging to any nation. Here’s the latest on the tiff.

Japan, which doesn’t even acknowledge that there is a territorial dispute, protested my blog post and wrote me a letter outlining some of its arguments. I’m not persuaded — it seems silly to say that China didn’t protest the seizure of a few barren rocks, when it was so weak that it had lost the entire province of Taiwan — but Japan does have valid points to make. I wish it would seek referral of the issue to the International Court of Justice, setting a precedent for legal judgments rather than brute force to settle conflicting claims.

I’ve been following the ups and downs on the islands since the 1980’s and wrote about them with my wife in our 2000 book about Asia, “Thunder from the East.” Alas, I’ve never found a way to land on them, and I do worry that the U.S. could be drawn into the dispute. As I noted in my previous item, the U.S. in theory is required to defend Japan’s claim to the islands, based on the wording of the U.S./Japan Security Treaty. In practice, we wouldn’t, but our failure to do so would cause reverberations all over Asia. In any case, here are excerpts from the Japanese letter of protest, apparently written at the request of the Japanese Foreign Minister (who knows who reads this blog?). Since I suggested that the islands were more likely China’s, I want to give them a chance to respond:

1) Since 1885, surveys of the Senkaku Islands had thoroughly been made by the Government of Japan through the agencies of Okinawa Prefecture and by way of other methods. Through these surveys, it was confirmed that the Senkaku Islands had been uninhabited and showed no trace of having been under the control of China. Based on this confirmation, the Government of Japan made a Cabinet Decision on 14 January 1895 to erect a marker on the Islands to formally incorporate the Senkaku Islands into the territory of Japan.

2) Since then, the Senkaku Islands have continuously remained as an integral part of the Nansei Shoto Islands, which are the territory of Japan. These islands were neither part of Taiwan nor part of the Pescadores Islands which were ceded to Japan from the Qing Dynasty of China in accordance with Article II of the Treaty of Shimonoseki which came into effect in May of 1895.

3) Accordingly, the Senkaku Islands are not included in the territory which Japan renounced under Article II of the San Francisco Peace Treaty. The Senkaku Islands have been placed under the administration of the United States of America as part of the Nansei Shoto Islands, in accordance with Article III of the said treaty, and are included in the area, the administrative rights over which were reverted to Japan in accordance with the Agreement Between Japan and the United States of America Concerning the Ryukyu Islands and the Daito Islands signed on 17 June 1971. The facts outlined herein clearly indicate the status of the Senkaku Islands being part of the territory of Japan.

4) The fact that China expressed no objection to the status of the Islands being under the administration of the United States under Article III of the San Francisco Peace Treaty clearly indicates that China did not consider the Senkaku Islands as part of Taiwan. It was not until the latter half of 1970, when the question of the development of petroleum resources on the continental shelf of the East China Sea came to the surface, that the Government of China and Taiwan authorities began to raise questions regarding the Senkaku Islands.

5) Your column focuses on historical manuscripts such as “Chinese navigational records” and “a 1783 Japanese map” to make the point that China has a better claim to the Senkaku Islands. However, please note that none of the points raised by the Government of China as “historic, geographic or geological” evidence provide valid grounds, in light of international law, to support China’s arguments regarding the Senkaku Islands.

Your thoughts?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/23/world/asia/23chinajapan.html?emc=eta1

China Takes a Sharper Tone in Dispute With Japan
By IAN JOHNSON
Published: September 22, 2010

BEIJING — Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao “strongly urged” Japan to immediately and unconditionally release from custody the captain of a Chinese trawler, threatening further action if Japan refuses.
Enlarge This Image
Yao Dawei/Xinhua, via Associated Press

Premier Wen Jiabao of China spoke about tensions with Japan during a meeting with representatives of Chinese nationals and Chinese Americans on Tuesday in New York.

Mr. Wen’s comments were the first by a senior Chinese official in what is rapidly becoming the most serious territorial dispute China has faced in a decade. The captain and crew were seized earlier this month by Japanese naval vessels, which claimed that the fishing boat rammed them near several uninhabited islands controlled by Japan. The boat and crew were quickly released, but the captain faces charges of obstructing officials from performing their duty and remains in Japanese custody.

China is incensed that Japan would apply its laws to Chinese nationals and argues that the issue is one for diplomacy, not the legal system. Known as Senkaku in Japanese or Diaoyu in Chinese, the islands have been in dispute for decades, but Japan has mostly turned back Chinese vessels that approach too closely.

Mr. Wen made his comments Tuesday night to members of the Chinese-American community in New York, where he is attending a United Nations meeting. The comments were carried Wednesday on the Web site of the Chinese Foreign Ministry.

“This is totally illegal, unreasonable and has already caused much suffering to the family of the captain,” Mr. Wen was quoted as saying. “If Japan clings to its course, China will take further action.”

Mr. Wen’s comments come as China as continued to ratchet up the pressure on Japan. On Tuesday, it announced that Mr. Wen would probably not meet his Japanese counterpart, Naoto Kan, who is also in New York for the United Nations development conference. On Sunday, China suspended many government contacts and other exchanges with Japan.

“Japan holds the key to solving this problem,” the Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Jiang Yu, said. “The Japanese side should correctly understand the situation and return the captain immediately and unconditionally.”

Some analysts say the issue might blow over next Wednesday when Japan must decide whether to formally charge the captain or release him. If he is charged, the emotional issue could boil over in China, where protests have already taken place and Internet forums are full of anti-Japanese rhetoric.

“Japan will have to release the captain with a warning or something similar,” said a Western diplomat based in Beijing who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the delicacy of the conflict. “It’s hard to imagine them actually charging and trying him.”

Sentiment in Japan, however, has hardened against China in recent years, with some calling for the country to resist a diplomatic solution and enforce its claims by applying Japanese law.

Japan controls the islands although China draws on historical records to buttress its claim to them. The islands have been the scene of protests for several decades, with Chinese from the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan claiming that Japan seized them in the 19th century and should have returned them after the end of World War II. Japan says the islands were not effectively controlled by anyone and were not part of agreements at the end of the war to strip Japan of territory acquired during its period of expansionism.

The most recent flare-up comes as China faces disputes with its neighbors to the south over control of islands in the South China Sea. It has also objected to American military exercises in the region and arms sales to Taiwan, which it also views as part of its territory

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703556604575501483896375018.html

China Suspends Talks With Japan

Beijing Threatens ‘Strong Countermeasures’ as Fishing-Boat Captain Detained Near Disputed Islands Stays in Custody

By JEREMY PAGE

BEIJING—China suspended high-level government exchanges with Japan, significantly escalating the two countries’ worst dispute in five years, after Japanese authorities extended the detention of the captain of a Chinese fishing boat detained near disputed islands in the East China Sea.

View Full Image

ReutersProtesters in Beijing yell slogans outside the Japanese Embassy during a rally Saturday about disputed islands.

Beijing also threatened “strong countermeasures” following Japan’s decision, which could provoke fresh nationalist protests across China this week and potentially damage commercial relations between the world’s second- and third-largest economies.

China and Japan have frequently clashed over the unpopulated islands, known as the Diaoyu in China, and the Senkaku in Japan, whose waters are thought to contain substantial natural-gas reserves, but this year’s row has graver implications for both—and the U.S.—as China is rapidly acquiring the naval power to enforce its claims.

The U.S. has been seeking to strengthen its presence in Asia, both in an effort to boost U.S. exports and as a way to provide a counterbalance to China’s increasing dominance in the region.

U.S. officials, along with many of their Asian counterparts, have expressed growing concern over what they view as the increasingly testy tone taken by China over some regional issues, as Beijing grows more confident on the global stage. Ensuring stability and a peaceful resolution of disputes remain priorities for the U.S. in the region, said Jonathan Pollack, a professor of Asian-Pacific studies at the U.S. Naval War College.

And while U.S.-China trade and economic ties have expanded rapidly in recent years, Washington wants to send a message to Beijing that its traditional alliances in Asia remain important, he said. “We’re not looking for a fight with China…but the U.S. will continue to put down markers reinforcing our commitment to East Asia and East Asia waters.”

China cancels politician’s visit after ship incident

Fallout from collision between vessels near Senkakus leads to decision

China has postponed a senior legislator’s visit to Japan amid the renewed territorial dispute sparked by ship collisions last week off the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, Japanese officials said Tuesday.

Outnumbered: A Taiwanese protest vessel (center) is monitored by Japan Coast Guard patrol craft Tuesday morning off the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea. KYODO PHOTO/JAPAN COAST GUARD

“It is very regrettable” that Li Jianguo, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, will not visit Wednesday as planned, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said.

The Chinese Embassy told the secretariat of the Lower House on Monday that Li’s five-day visit under a regular exchange program for parliamentarians will be put off, citing “various reasons” and without elaborating, secretariat officials said.

Sengoku said that in light of the tension between Japan and China, “All the more, the two countries’ legislators should meet and engage in frank discussions away from the level of the central government.”

By doing so, there would be more significance in carrying out exchanges between lawmakers, he added.

The dispute stems from collisions Sept. 7 between a Chinese fishing boat and two Japan Coast Guard ships near the Senkaku Islands, which are controlled by Japan but claimed by China and Taiwan.

Japan released 14 crew members of the Chinese trawler Monday, but the captain remains detained. Authorities suspect him of deliberately causing his vessel to collide with one of the patrol boats.

On the arrest of the captain, Sengoku reiterated Tokyo’s stance that it is dealing with the incident in line with domestic law.

The Chinese diplomatic mission in Tokyo informed Japan of Li’s postponement around 11 a.m. Monday by telephone. His visit had been planned as the sixth under an exchange program launched in 2005 between the Lower House and China’s legislature.

Li was to have met with such veteran lawmakers as Lower House Speaker Takahiro Yokomichi, his predecessor Yohei Kono, and Upper House President Takeo Nishioka.

The sea incident has also led China to postpone talks with Japan on signing a treaty over joint gas field development in the East China Sea.

Meanwhile, Taiwanese activists headed home after sailing near the disputed islands for several hours in a voyage to promote Taiwan’s claim to the disputed territory.

A fishing boat with two Taiwanese activists and three crew members came close to Uotsuri Island, one of the islets, in Japan’s exclusive economic zone early Tuesday, according to the Japan Coast Guard, whose vessels closely followed the boat.

Over the line

State minister Renho said Tuesday the dispute between Japan and China over the Senkaku Islands is a territorial issue, contradicting the government’s position paper issued in June that denied the existence of any territorial dispute in the East China Sea.

“Anyway, since it is a territorial issue, Japan should express its resolute stance calmly,” Renho, minister of state for government revitalization, told a news conference.

The position paper adopted by the Cabinet says there is no territorial dispute in the East China Sea that needs to be settled.

Later in the day, Renho told reporters her remark included “some misleading expressions” in an apparent effort to defuse any controversy.

“The Senkaku Islands are inherently (part of) the territories of our country both in terms of history and international law,” Renho said.

School vandalized

BEIJING (Kyodo) Three small metal balls were hurled at a Japanese school for elementary and junior high school students in Tianjin, China, on Sunday night, the Japanese Embassy in Beijing said.

Two of the three pinball-like balls hit and broke a window in a guards’ office next to the school’s front gate on Monday, but no injuries were reported, the embassy said. The perpetrator fled.

The school found graffiti on its wall Monday morning, a development that may be linked to China’s anger over Japan’s handling of a collision last week between a Chinese fishing boat and two patrol boats near the disputed Senkaku Islands.

“The Chinese people will never allow (Japan) to invade” what Beijing says is its territory, the graffiti said.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100912a8.html

Sunday, Sept. 12, 2010

Taiwan group in Senkaku protest

TAIPEI (Kyodo) Activists supporting Chinese sovereignty over the disputed Senkaku Islands and surrounding waters said Saturday that protesters in China will set out Sunday from Xiamen on a voyage to the area and that Taiwan-based protesters will also set out within days.

Huang Hsi-lin, chief executive of the Taiwan-based Chinese Tiaoyutai Defense Association, told reporters at a conference in Chungho, Taipei county, that a number of fishing vessels are scheduled to set out from Xiamen and that, sea conditions permitting, Taiwanese activists will set out as early as Sunday.

The disputed islands are known as the Senkaku in Japan, the Diaoyu in China and the Tiaoyutai in Taiwan.

Details of the Taiwan-based protest, such as ports of departure and number of boats and onboard activists, are being withheld to avoid intervention by the authorities, whom activists complain have cracked down on their activities in recent years.

Huang said protesters will fish near the islands and attempt to disembark with a statue of Matsu, the patron goddess of fishermen.

“We’ll worship Matsu and have a barbecue,” he said.

In recent years the activists have enjoyed no government or opposition patronage and have little public support.

But the protests could exacerbate acute tensions between China and Japan over the continuing detention of a Chinese skipper after his boat allegedly rammed two coast guard vessels in Japanese waters near the Senkakus on Tuesday.

The ramming incident, one of a growing number of confrontations between Japanese and Chinese vessels in the region, triggered public protests in Beijing and Hong Kong last week.

Huang was one of more than 100 mostly veteran activists from Taiwan, China, Hong Kong, Macau and overseas Chinese communities who attended the conference Saturday.

In a message dated Tuesday that was read at the start of the conference, Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou extended his best wishes for the meeting.

“It is my greatest hope that with this esteemed conference, consensus . . . can be reached in probing the practicalities of maritime economic territory, guaranteeing the livelihood and rights of fishermen and contributing all strength in the interests of regional peace, cooperation and prosperity,” he said.

http://www.asahi.com/english/images/ttl_asahi_500.gif

http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201009150327.html

China now bracing for mass protests
BY NOBUYOSHI SAKAJIRI THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
9/16/2010

BEIJING–Chinese security authorities are bracing for mass anti-Japan demonstrations this weekend following the arrest of a Chinese fishing boat captain, sources here said.

The incident, which has triggered anti-Japanese sentiment in China, is expected to culminate in widespread protests on Saturday, the 79th anniversary of the Liutiaohu Incident in which Imperial Japanese Army soldiers blew up a section of Japan’s South Manchurian Railway in Liutiaohu, southern Manchuria, leading to Japan’s occupation of Manchuria.

The captain of a Chinese fishing boat was arrested last week by the Japan Coast Guard after his trawler collided–Japanese officials say deliberately–with two coast guard vessels near the disputed Senkaku Islands, called Diaoyutai in Chinese.

The Japanese Embassy in Beijing is taking steps to ensure the safety of its staff and Japanese residents in China.

According to Chinese authorities, demonstrators will gather Saturday morning at several areas in the city, including the Ritan public park in the Chaoyang district, before heading for the Japanese Embassy.

Internet websites of the nationalist China Federation for Defending the Diaoyutai Islands posted notices of the protests, which fanned widespread interest in holding demonstrations.

A Chinese security official said, “On Saturday, all the members of this office will be working to guard (against protesters), especially around the Japanese Embassy and Japanese restaurants.”

The security authorities will permit the demonstrations, but depending on the size of the crowd and developments, the authorities may be compelled to take steps to ensure that things do not spiral out of control, the official said.

Fourteen detained crew members from the Chinese trawler were returned to China on Monday, but the captain remains in custody.

In Beijing, Japanese Ambassador Uichiro Niwa was summoned five times by the Chinese government to request the captain’s release. Beijing also postponed a second round of talks in Tokyo on joint oil field development in the East China Sea scheduled for Thursday and Friday.

This week’s planned visit to Japan by Li Jianguo, the vice chair of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, was abruptly postponed.

Amid growing anti-Japanese postings on the Internet, the Chinese Communist Party and the government are concerned that the criticism could turn on them if they drop their hard-line stance against Japan.

http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100910a2.html

The dock in store for China boat skipper
The Associated Press
The captain of the Chinese fishing boat that collided with Japan Coast Guard patrol vessels near the disputed Senkaku Islands could stand trial in the latest bilateral territorial spat, officials said Thursday.

That likelihood increased as the coast guard handed over 41-year-old skipper Zhan Qixiong to prosecutors for further investigation to decide whether to officially charge him, coast guard spokesman Masahiro Ichijo said.
Zhan has been in custody since his arrest Wednesday, after his ship collided with two patrol boats near the uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. No one was injured, and the two Japanese vessels sustained minor damage.
Beijing reacted with swift criticism. Japanese Ambassador Uichiro Niwa has been summoned twice to see Assistant Foreign Minister Hu Zhengyue, who demanded that the Chinese vessel be released immediately. The crew, who do not have passports, are waiting on the boat.
The collisions happened in Japanese territorial waters off the northwestern coast of Kuba Island, just north of the disputed islands known as Diaoyu in Chinese. The islands, about 190 km east of Taiwan, are controlled by Japan but are also claimed by China and Taiwan.
The captain could be released in a couple of days if he acknowledges he obstructed public duties resulting in the collision and pays a fine, Ichijo said. If not, he would likely have to stand trial.
Officials also were questioning the ship’s remaining 14 crew members, who are free to return to China if the Chinese send a vessel to pick them up.
The Chinese government has reiterated its claim to the islands, as well as the surrounding waters, urging Japan not to patrol there.
But Foreign Press Secretary Satoru Sato told reporters Wednesday that Japan’s territorial ownership of the Senkakus is “the undeniable fact” and that the collision incident should be investigated properly under Japan’s criminal law.
The latest incident occurred during a seasonal surge of Chinese fishing boats in the disputed area in recent weeks.

URL: http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/10/look-out-for-the-diaoyu-islands/
Nicholas D. Kristof – A New York Times Blog
September 10, 2010, 6:07 pm

Look Out for the Diaoyu Islands
By NICHOLAS KRISTOF

http://graphics7.nytimes.com/images/dropcap/t.gifensions have erupted over some barren rocks in the Pacific that you may never have heard of, but stay tuned – this is a boundary dispute that could get ugly and some day have far-reaching consequences for China, Japan, Taiwan and the United States.
Columnist Biography: Nicholas D. Kristof

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E-mail: nicholas@nytimes.com

The islands in question are called the Senkaku chain by Japan, the Diaoyu islands by China, and the Diaoyutai by Taiwan. All three claim the islands, which are really just five islets and three barren rocks northeast of Taiwan, 200 miles off the Chinese coast. The latest confrontation occurred when a Chinese fishing boat collided with two Japanese naval vessels trying to intercept it near the islands. The Japanese detained the Chinese captain for questioning and the two countries have been exchanging indignant protests.

The reason to worry is that nationalists in both China and Taiwan see the islands as unquestionably theirs and think that their government has been weak in asserting this authority. So far, wiser heads have generally prevailed on each side, but at some point a weakened Chinese leader might try to gain legitimacy with the public by pushing the issue and recovering the islands. It would be a dangerous game and would have a disastrous impact on China-Japan relations, but if successful it would raise the popularity of the Chinese government and would also be a way of putting pressure on Taiwan.

The other problem is that, technically, the U.S. would be obliged to bail Japan out if there were a fight over the Senkakus. The U.S. doesn’t take a position on who owns the islands, but the Japan-U.S. security treaty specifies that the U.S. will help defend areas that Japan administers. And in 1972, when the U.S. handed Okinawa back to Japan, it agreed that Japan should administer the Senkakus. So we’re in the absurd position of being committed to help Japan fight a war over islands, even though we don’t agree that they are necessarily Japanese.

In reality, of course, there is zero chance that the U.S. will honor its treaty obligation over a few barren rocks. We’re not going to risk a nuclear confrontation with China over some islands that may well be China’s. But if we don’t help, our security relationship with Japan will be stretched to the breaking point.

So which country has a better claim to the islands? My feeling is that it’s China, although the answer isn’t clearcut. Chinese navigational records show the islands as Chinese for many centuries, and a 1783 Japanese map (re: “Sankoku Tsūran Zusetsu” published by prominent military scholar Hayashi Shihei) shows them as Chinese as well. Japan purported to “discover” the islands only in 1884 and annexed them only in 1895 when it also grabbed Taiwan. (You can also make a case that they are terra nullis, belonging to no nation.)

The best approach would be for China and Japan to agree to refer the dispute to the International Court of Justice, but realistically that won’t happen. And since some believe that the area is rich with oil and gas reserves, the claims from each side have become more insistent.

As Chinese nationalism grows, as China’s navy and ability to project power in the ocean gains, we could see some military jostling over the islands. You read it here first.