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Japan: China Is "Scary Country"
CNN ^ | April 12, 2005 | Tara Duffy

Posted on 04/12/2005 4:23:08 PM PDT by srm913

NEW DELHI, India -- China's premier has told Japan to "face up to history," while a top Japanese official has called China "scary" as a war of words simmers following massive protests in the weekend.

The missives on Tuesday came after tens of thousands of Chinese took to the streets on Saturday and Sunday, angry at a new Japanese history book they say fails to admit the extent of Japan's World War II atrocities.

The protests -- which were the largest since 1999 when crowds rallied outside the U.S. Embassy in Beijing when three Chinese were killed in Belgrade -- also targeted Japan's bid to become a permanent U.N. Security Council member.

In the latest flare-up between the two former rivals, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao told reporters in New Delhi on Tuesday that Japan must "face up to history squarely" and that the protests should give Tokyo reason to rethink its bid for a permanent council seat.

(Excerpt) Read more at edition.cnn.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Japan
KEYWORDS: china; northeastasia
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To: Fishing-guy

If you find something that reports it again let me know. It flies in the face of everything else I've ever read.


41 posted on 04/12/2005 8:00:17 PM PDT by ProudVet77 (It's boogitty boogitty boogitty season!)
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To: struggle

42 posted on 04/12/2005 8:05:29 PM PDT by traumer
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To: srm913

and what is Japan going to do to prepare for the eventual war?


43 posted on 04/12/2005 8:10:01 PM PDT by Tiger Smack (http://www.tigersmack.com <------- for LSU & SEC sports/news/politics)
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To: Fishing-guy

This the article? Seems close, but differs in details.
http://www.agenceglobal.com/article.asp?id=202

China’s New Squeeze On Taiwan Investments
by Paul Denlinger Released: 12 Aug 2004



Following the inauguration of Taiwan president Chen Shui-bian on May 20, the Chinese government has turned the screws on corporations with investments in China that favor Taiwan independence. These so-called green corporations derive their name from the color associated with the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party in Taiwan.

Companies which have donated funds to aid Chen’s re-election, or have taken a stand favoring Chen, have had investment loans denied after initial approval in the past months. The best-publicized case has been an investment made by the Chi-Mei Group in a petrochemical plant in Zhenjiang. The chairman of the group, Hsu Wen-lung (Xu Wenlong), has been an outspoken supporter of Li Teng-huei, Taiwan’s president until 2000, a strong independence advocate.

The Chi-Mei Group has said that Hsu, who is 78 years old, is now retired and does not manage the day-to-day affairs of the group. But Chinese papers say that Hsu continues to make major business decisions. The Chinese media have publicly stated that the government will no longer allow pro-independence Taiwan business groups to invest in China and repatriate their money to Taiwan to finance pro-independence activities.

Pro-independence business groups and politicians have said that Taiwan companies will invest elsewhere. The question is, with all the interest for investment in China, where will they go? Nobody seems to have an answer.

Chen, who serves concurrently as president of Taiwan, and as chairman of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, has actively pushed his pro-independence line with the encouragement of the former U.S. representative to Taiwan, Therese Shaheen. In the period up to the election on March 20, Shaheen told Chen on more than one occasions that President Bush is the “guardian angel of Taiwan.”

Chen took this to mean that the U.S. was the ultimate guarantor of Taiwan independence, and that the U.S. was willing to use U.S. military forces to guarantee Taiwan’s push for international recognition. For this reason, Chen deferred purchases of more than U.S.$20 billion of U.S. weapons approved by President Bush in 2001, stating that since the U.S. would come to Taiwan’s aid, there was no need to buy the weapons.

China’s mistrust of U.S. foreign policy wasn’t helped by the fact that Shaheen is the wife of Lawrence di Rita, spokesperson for the Pentagon and close associate of U.S. defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld. The message to the Chinese was that hawks in the U.S. Defense Department would push for U.S. military intervention to protect Taiwan. Earlier on, President Bush was angered when he had to personally re-affirm to Chinese premier Wen Jiabao that the U.S. was committed to the “One-China policy,” in front of the U.S. and international press.

The only way for Bush to remove doubts about his commitment to a one-China policy was to insist on the removal of Shaheen in early April, before she could attend Chen’s inauguration.

Following Chen’s inauguration, the dialogue between China and Taiwan shifted. Before the election, it was Chen who was pressing for independence so that he could get votes from his pro-independence base in southern and central Taiwan. Taipei and northern Taiwan have consistently voted to maintain the current status.

But now that Chen has taken the election, China’s anti-Taiwan independence position has increased in volume and dominance. Most of the rhetoric has been directed inwards at the Chinese population, telling them how Taiwan independence is a “disaster for all Chinese everywhere.” Above all, the statements, which come from party, government and military sources, re-affirm why Taiwan independence must be stopped by all means, even if they adversely affect the economy and Beijing’s hosting of the 2008 Olympics.

This puts Taiwan businesses in China in a special bind, since they have made more than U.S.$30 billion of investments in China since the early 1990s. Before, all of their investments were welcomed with open arms, without any questions asked. Now, they are being asked to “biaotai”, or state their positions with regard to Taiwan independence, long after their investments have been established.

The rationale for this is obvious: it is to destroy the financial backing for Taiwan independence among Taiwan businesses, and to force Taiwan company investments already made in China to take an open position against independence.

Chen’s administration already feels the pressure, and after his inauguration has forced approval of the U.S.$20 billion arms package from the U.S. through Taiwan’s legislature, and which President Bush approved in 2001.

The squeeze is on.


44 posted on 04/12/2005 8:14:35 PM PDT by ProudVet77 (It's boogitty boogitty boogitty season!)
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To: ProudVet77

Take into consideration that this article was written by AgenceGlobal which is owned by "The Nation". "The Nation provides regular commentary from the leading progressive thinkers, including Noam Chomsky, Gore Vidal, Arthur Miller, Jeremy Rifkin, Jonathan Schell, Arundhati Roy


45 posted on 04/12/2005 8:18:36 PM PDT by ProudVet77 (It's boogitty boogitty boogitty season!)
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To: struggle

What's scary is that's an excellent toilet by Chinese standards.
I was once squatting over one of those when a rat wriggled out the hole and ran between my feet.


46 posted on 04/12/2005 8:28:28 PM PDT by srm913
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To: Prophet in the wilderness

I am not sure what to say about the comparison, but at least Japan as 4 (and several more to be built) AEGIS ships, second to none from United States (The only other country with AEGIS is Spain). Well, if you talk about submarines and air craft carriers, Japan does not have them.


47 posted on 04/12/2005 10:01:35 PM PDT by Wiz
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To: Prophet in the wilderness

Where some of that money went.
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7255
Autonomous military satellite to inspect others in orbit
10:49 12 April 2005
NewScientist.com news service
Kelly Young
The US Air Force has launched a micro-satellite that could lead to an autonomous robotic mechanic that fixes satellites in orbit. The launch is the first of two such technology-demonstration satellites to lift off this week.

The 138-kilogram XSS-11 - which stands for Experimental Spacecraft Systems 11 - blasted off at 0635 PDT (1435 GMT) on Monday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, US, aboard a Minotaur rocket.

“Nobody’s ever done anything like this in space,” says Vernon Baker, XSS-11 programme manager at the Space Vehicles Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, US. He says developing an ability to inspect or repair in orbit will significantly lower the cost of running satellites.

During its mission, the XSS-11 craft will approach dead or unused US satellites or old rocket parts. At each rendezvous, the Air Force satellite will burn its engines to move around the object while taking a range of pictures.

Normally, ground controllers instruct a satellite when to fire its engines. But, after a commissioning and testing phase, XSS-11 will only take instruction on where to find a dead satellite. Then, with its on-board planner, it will calculate when to burn its engines.

Anti-satellite weapon
During its lifetime, XSS-11 will rendezvous with six to eight objects, the first of which will probably be the upper stage of the Minotaur rocket that carried it into space. The Air Force wants to be able to service and inspect military satellites in space.

However, Theresa Hitchens, vice president for the Center for Defense Information, a think-tank in Washington, DC, says that the XSS-11 satellite could be the predecessor for a space-based weapon. If a micro-satellite could approach other satellites, she says, it could also adjust its speed and ram into the satellite, damaging it or knocking it off course. And smaller satellites are more difficult to detect from the ground. But officially, the US Air Force has no offensive satellite weapons program.

NASA is also interested in using such technology for a Mars-sample-return mission, so that a lander would be able to dock autonomously with a mother ship after a visit to the surface. Spacecraft autonomy is one of the requirements for President George W Bush’s plan for human missions to the Moon and Mars.

Another autonomous spacecraft, NASA’s Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) satellite, is scheduled for take-off on a Pegasus rocket on 15 April. It too will make its own approach to a satellite, testing techniques required to dock on auto-pilot.

After some costly delays, DART ended up costing $110 million. “It’s a much simpler mission,” Baker told New Scientist. It is expected to operate for about 24 hours. The Air Force expects the XSS-11 to operate for between 12 and 18 months and its final cost is $80 million. It weighs about half as much as the DART satellite.


48 posted on 04/12/2005 11:33:41 PM PDT by ProudVet77 (It's boogitty boogitty boogitty season!)
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To: ProudVet77

Thanks for that explanation. I had wondered what that meant also.


49 posted on 04/13/2005 4:15:12 AM PDT by texasflower ("America's vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one." President George W. Bush 01/20/05)
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To: lightingguy

Interesting China thread ping


50 posted on 04/13/2005 4:27:37 AM PDT by agrace (All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen. - Ralph Waldo Emerson)
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To: agrace
Interesting China thread ping

Yes, and also an important thread. The Pacific Rim countries are spinning towards war (unless something changes), but the MSM is worried about M. Jackson. If the PacRim goes to war, we will be there, and in a bigger way than in Iraq.
51 posted on 04/13/2005 7:01:16 PM PDT by ProudVet77 (It's boogitty boogitty boogitty season!)
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To: srm913

bump to read later


52 posted on 04/13/2005 7:07:40 PM PDT by Steve0113 (Stay to the far right to get by.)
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To: ProudVet77; lightingguy

Definitely important. I pinged my husband (lightingguy) to this because he was just telling me yesterday how Michael Medved was discussing China on his radio show, how China has purchased so many interests in and around the US, so-called choke-points, ie around the Panama Canal etc. Any thoughts on those, with regard to potential war in the PacRim, and our participation?

I've always watched China with a wary eye, for a wide variety of reasons.


53 posted on 04/13/2005 7:19:57 PM PDT by agrace (All I have seen teaches me to trust the Creator for all I have not seen. - Ralph Waldo Emerson)
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To: agrace

Their purchases are not going to have much end effect. The Panama Canal is not really that significant to us.
The problem is the CCP is riding a wave. They got a lot of $$s when they took over Hong Kong, so it has made China look good. But they have a huge bubble in their economy right now, and they are trying to time it's burst till after the 2008 Olympics. They have a huge water polition problem, http://www.clo2.com/reading/waternews/China_water_crisis.html
which means they only get 1/4 of the water per person the average person (in the world)gets. Which is probably close to 1/10th the water Americans and Euros get. Imagine putting up with that.
Then add in the gender explosion:
http://english.people.com.cn/200209/27/eng20020927_104013.shtml
Either the Chinese guys learn to shower with a buddy or there are some big problems ahead.


54 posted on 04/13/2005 7:32:16 PM PDT by ProudVet77 (It's boogitty boogitty boogitty season!)
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To: ProudVet77; agrace

Actually it was Bill Bennett who was discussing this. It has come up repeatedly on his show for a while. I think the situation does warrant some watching. That said, I used to work for a company that did business in Asia and I agree that with the coming olympics there is a definite wish to make everything at least appear great economically.


55 posted on 04/15/2005 6:14:19 AM PDT by lightingguy (Sorry, I got distracted)
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To: srm913

It's just crazy, crazy I tell you. I feel like sometimes the Chinese feel like it's a game. Has anyone seen Mr. Bubbles?
56 posted on 04/15/2005 6:26:28 AM PDT by TheForceOfOne
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