Japan buys disputed islands

• Kingofrunes wrote on 2012-09-11 11:30
  Remember those islands that Japan, China, and Taiwan all claim as their own? Well, looks like Japan just bought them. This won't end well.
  
  

  
  Chinese official media said Beijing had sent two patrol ships to waters surrounding the islands to reassert its claim and accused Japan of "playing with fire" over the long-simmering row. The army warned that further, unspecified steps could follow.
  
  "The Chinese military expresses its staunch opposition and strong protest over this," Defense Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said in remarks posted on the ministry's website (www.mod.gov.cn).
  
  "The Chinese government and military are unwavering in their determination and will to defend national territorial sovereignty. We are closely following developments, and reserve the power to adopt corresponding measures."
  
  Tokyo insisted it had only peaceful intentions in making the 2.05 billion yen ($26.18 million) purchase of three uninhabited islands in the East China Sea, until now leased by the government from a Japanese family that has owned them since early 1970s.
  
  Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba repeated Japan's line that the purchase served "peaceful and stable maintenance of the islands".
  
  "We cannot damage the stable development of the Japan-China relationship because of that issue. Both nations need to act calmly and from a broad perspective," he told reporters after a cabinet meeting approved the transaction.
  
  The Japanese Coast Guard will administer the islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, which are near rich fishing grounds and potentially huge maritime gas fields.
  
  Geng accused Japan of "using all kinds of excuses to expand its armaments, and repeatedly creating regional tensions".
  
  Beijing has avoided sending military forces into disputed seas at the heart of quarrels with neighbors, including Japan, instead using civilian government vessels to stake its claims.
  
  China's Xinhua news agency reported that two China Marine Surveillance (CMS) vessels reached the waters around the islets on Tuesday morning. The government force is in charge of enforcing law and order in China's claimed territorial waters, but operates separately from the navy.
  
  The Japanese Coast Guard could not confirm the report about the CMS vessels.
  
  CHINESE ANGER
  
  The tensions with Japan come while China's ruling Communist Party is preoccupied with a forthcoming once-in-a-decade leadership change, as well as slowing economic growth.
  
  China's focus on domestic politics and the economy will not deter a potentially strong response to Japan, said Sun Cheng, a professor specializing in Japan at the China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing.
  
  "Chinese people won't disregard territorial disputes just because of the economy and the Party Congress," said Sun. "And if China is too soft on this issue, I don't think the Chinese people will abide by that."
  
  The news triggered small-scale protests in front of the tightly-guarded Japanese embassy in Beijing. Microbloggers on China's popular Twitter-like service Sina Weibo also reported small anti-Japanese protests in the eastern city of Weihai and the southwestern city of Chongqing.
  
  The long-running territorial dispute flared last month after Japan detained a group of Chinese activists who had landed on the islands. And the row appears to be having an economic impact, with a Chinese official saying Japanese car sales in the world's biggest auto market may have been hit.
  
  Chinese President Hu Jintao's warned at the weekend against the purchase, which he called "illegal". On Tuesday Taiwan, which also claims the territory, recalled its representative to Japan in protest against the deal.
  
  Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, in an address to senior military officers, made no direct reference to the islands dispute, but pointed to China's growing military clout as one of challenges Japan had to contend with.
  
  "We have North Korea launching missiles under the name of satellites and conducting a nuclear program, China expanding its military might and continuing vigorous activities in regional waters and Russia also boosting its activities in the Far East," Noda said.
  
  The Japanese foreign ministry said it was sending its Asia department chief to Beijing on Tuesday for talks to "avoid misunderstanding and lack of explanation on the issue."
  
  The government bought three of five islets that it has been leasing from the Kurihara family, which bought the islands in 1972 from another Japanese family that had controlled them since the 1890s. The government has owned one of the remaining islets and continues to lease one from the Kurihara family.
  
  Noda floated the plan to buy the islets in July to head off what appeared to be a much more provocative bid by Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, a harsh critic of China, to purchase them and make the islands available for development.
  

  
  
  Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/11/us-japan-china-idUSBRE88A0GY20120911
  
  Apparently it was done, to avoid an anti-Chinese Tokoyo governer from purchasing the islands and was bought off from a Japanese family that has been leasing them since 1972. We'll have to see how this plays out.
• EndlessDreams wrote on 2012-09-11 14:53
  lol, Japan is just plain stupid. Trying to buy the islands gives the message that those islands don't belong to Japan.
  
  Considering what Japan has done to China in WW2, and its refusal to even acknowledge it, there is no way China will sell those islands. Also, China already vowed to never ever let an external force take away their territorial sovereignty ever again, and China is strong enough to protect their territorial sovereignty nowadays.
• Mentosftw wrote on 2012-09-11 15:32
  There were huge anti Japanese protests in Hong Kong weeks before this.
  
  I think it was related to this as well.
• Kingofrunes wrote on 2012-09-11 15:39

  Quote from Mentosftw;949846:

  There were huge anti Japanese protests in Hong Kong weeks before this.
  
  I think it was related to this as well.

  
  
  I think that was related to when Japan arrested those Chinese people a few weeks back for going to the disputed islands.
  
  "The long-running territorial dispute flared last month after Japan detained a group of Chinese activists who had landed on the islands."
• Knightmehre wrote on 2012-09-11 17:10
  They didn't 'buy' they attempted
  
  [video=youtube;VUekEvo6xSQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUekEvo6xSQ&feature=plcp[/video]
• Yoorah wrote on 2012-09-11 18:09
  LOL, China being silly and arrogant as usual.
  
  These islands have been formally Japanese territory since the late 1800s. The US took control after WW2, and then handed them back to Japan as per the US/Japan treaty. During all this time, and for quite some time after, China never cared about these islands. They only started making noise recently, after the discovery of possible oil deposits in the area round the islands. Haha.
  
  China may be able to bully the smaller countries in the Asia-Pacific region, but they won't get their way with Japan. Ignore the yapping from China regarding them protecting "their" sovereignty or whatever. Those US aircraft carriers make China shut up every time.
• Knightmehre wrote on 2012-09-11 18:17

  Quote from Yoorah;949875:

  LOL, China being silly and arrogant as usual.
  
  These islands have been formally Japanese territory since the late 1800s. The US took control after WW2, and then handed them back to Japan as per the US/Japan treaty. During all this time, and for quite some time after, China never cared about these islands. They only started making noise recently, after the discovery of possible oil deposits in the area round the islands. Haha.
  
  China may be able to bully the smaller countries in the Asia-Pacific region, but they won't get their way with Japan. Ignore the yapping from China regarding them protecting "their" sovereignty or whatever. Those US aircraft carriers make China shut up every time.

  
  
  Chinese claimed the islands in the 14th century during the Ming dynasty and there's historical literary books based on the islands. The signing of the treaty when Japan gained the Diaoyu islands was illegal, because it was not the US's choice to give away the islands to Japan since they did not own them in the first place.
• Yoorah wrote on 2012-09-11 18:31
  Right, so we should totally re-draw all of our current borders based on 14th century maps. A fantastic solution. :P
  
  Like I said, these islands were part of Japan since the 1800s. China's current claims mean nothing, as China had no problem with the treaty or Japan's ownership of the islands before said treaty. These claims by China are recent and were only motivated by the oil field discoveries.
• EndlessDreams wrote on 2012-09-11 18:51

  Quote from Yoorah;949880:

  Right, so we should totally re-draw all of our current borders based on 14th century maps. A fantastic solution. :P
  
  Like I said, these islands were part of Japan since the 1800s. China's current claims mean nothing, as China had no problem with the treaty or Japan's ownership of the islands before said treaty. These claims by China are recent and were only motivated by the oil field discoveries.

  
  
  More like China was weaker back then compared to it is now. It couldn't defend itself from other countries from taking territories.
  
  Now, it has the economical and military power to do so. China's current claims do mean quite a bit if it goes all the way back to the Ming Dynasty.
• Yoorah wrote on 2012-09-11 19:23
  It may have been weaker, but it could have still filed a claim for the dispute if they felt they had a right to those lands. This is especially true given the fact that Japan has been invading China during (and prior) WW2, and had lost control of their territories after their defeat by the US. It would have been the perfect opportunity for China to ask for those islands back, but they did not. And they didn't care when the US had formally given the islands back to Japan, either. Having failed to use multiple opportunities to make a claim for the islands, they're too late to make them now--even if said claims are valid (which in itself is up for debate).
  
  Now, it's more like China is trying to abuse its economic and military power to bully neighbouring nations. Like I said, it may work with the Philippines or w/e, but it won't work with Japan.
  
  EDIT:
  

  For a long time following the entry into force of the San Francisco Peace Treaty China/Taiwan raised no objection to the fact that the Senkaku Islands were included in the area placed under US administration in accordance with the provisions of Article of the treaty, and USCAP No. 27. In fact, neither China nor Taiwan had taken up the question of sovereignty over the islands until the latter half of 1970 when evidence relating to the existence of oil resources deposited in the East China Sea surfaced. All this clearly indicates that China/Taiwan had not regarded the Senkaku Islands as a part of Taiwan. Thus, for Japan, none of the alleged historical, geographical and geological arguments set forth by China/Taiwan are acceptable as valid under international law to substantiate China's territorial claim over the Senkaku Islands.

  
  
  China was still pretty damn weak in the 1970s. Yet, they made a claim once oil was found. There goes that argument. xd
• Sinned wrote on 2012-09-11 21:53
  I'd side with China if they weren't trying to cite from old-ish history to make their claim.
  
  Also the fact that there was one thing about China asking the US how it would feel if Japan took over Hawaii, which is completely ridiculous since Hawaii has never been owned by Japan.
• Kingofrunes wrote on 2012-09-11 22:06
  Hawaii wasn't completely our own either to be fair. Reading up on it though as my history on the matter is shakey.
  
  Oh here's something interesting: "In 1897 the Empire of Japan sent warships to Hawaii to oppose annexation. McKinley signed the Newlands Resolution which annexed Hawaii, illegally in the opinion of annexation opponents, on July 7 1898 to become the Territory of Hawaii"
  
  So I can sort of see where China is coming from here taking a deeper look at the history of Hawaii seeing that China is referencing history from the 14th century.
  
  Also, one last bit of irony before I finish here with Hawaii, "Most Americans had never heard of Pearl Harbor, even though it had been used by the US Navy since the Spanish-American War."
  
  Seems that there's still a bit of dispute in Hawaii to this day as a matter of fact. All in all, it seems like we kind of forced Hawaii into our own country.
• Sinned wrote on 2012-09-11 23:35

  Quote from Kingofrunes;949957:

  Hawaii wasn't completely our own either to be fair. Reading up on it though as my history on the matter is shakey.
  
  Oh here's something interesting: "In 1897 the Empire of Japan sent warships to Hawaii to oppose annexation. McKinley signed the Newlands Resolution which annexed Hawaii, illegally in the opinion of annexation opponents, on July 7 1898 to become the Territory of Hawaii"
  
  So I can sort of see where China is coming from here taking a deeper look at the history of Hawaii seeing that China is referencing history from the 14th century.
  
  Also, one last bit of irony before I finish here with Hawaii, "Most Americans had never heard of Pearl Harbor, even though it had been used by the US Navy since the Spanish-American War."
  
  Seems that there's still a bit of dispute in Hawaii to this day as a matter of fact. All in all, it seems like we kind of forced Hawaii into our own country.

  
  
  We did sort of... conquer it but thanks.
  I didn't know about the Hawaiian history and assumed they were left alone until USA started to get all "BITCH DIS IS MINE."
  
  All I really knew was that natives were pretty much screwed over except for the few that monopolized the tourism and the US military poisons the water there because it's "safe" for testing all their shit.