China demands Japan 'unconditionally' release activists

People Daily ^ | 03.25.04

[Dr. Marten]

China demands Japan 'unconditionally' release activists

The Chinese Foreign Ministry lodged a solemn representation Wednesday afternoon with Japan for illegally detaining seven Chinese citizens who landed on Diaoyu Island, a Chinese island in the East China Sea.

Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Yesui Wednesday afternoon summoned Chikahito Harada, charge d'affaires of Japanese embassy in China, to lodge the representation.

Zhang stated the stance of the Chinese government on the Diaoyu Island issue. He pointed out that Diaoyu Island and the attached islets have been a part of the Chinese territory since ancient times and China has indisputable sovereignty over these islands.

The Chinese government and people have the firm determination and willingness to safeguard the sovereignty of their own national territory, he stressed.

Zhang said it is a serious incident that Japan illegally detained seven Chinese citizens who landed on China's own Diaoyu Island.

Such an act seriously infringed on the territorial sovereignty of China and human rights of the Chinese citizens, he said, emphasizing that the Chinese government and people expressed indignation over the event.

"We demand the Japanese side to guarantee the security of the Chinese citizens and unconditionally release them," he said.

Otherwise, it will lead to further complication and enlargement of the situation and stir stronger indignation among the Chinese people, he said.

Also on Wednesday, Chinese Ambassador to Japan Wu Dawei lodged a solemn representation with Japanese Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Takeuchi Yukio.

Should Japan cling obstinately to its own course and continue its moves to deteriorate China-Japan relations, Japan will be responsible for all consequences arising thereupon, Ambassador Wu said.

The Japanese side moved the seven Chinese citizens to the Okinawa prefecture of Japan Thursday.

The Chinese government has instructed officials with the Chinese Embassy in Japan to head for the spot and handle relevant matters.

Source: Xinhua

[Dr. Marten]

"After the attack, Chen activated a national security protocol, meaning 200,000 military and police could not vote."

[piasa]

fyi

[Enduring Freedom]

Phuck You, Communist slime.

[Dr. Marten]

Re: post 1

oops. I accidentally posted the comment to the wrong thread.

[Ophiucus]

Interesting post. The Diaoyu Islands (map) are claimed by Japan, China, and Taiwan. Evidently, the question of claim goes back before 1895 as to whether the islands were part of Okinawa or Taiwan. Japan took the islands in the area during a war in 1874. After being defeated in the Sino-Japan war, China ceded these islands and Taiwan to Japan. After WWII, Japan returned seized lands to China - including Taiwan.

Japan claimed that the Diaoyu Islands were not part of the post-WWII treaty and the US agreed, in 1970, signing the Okinawa Reversion Treaty returning the islands to Japan. Then the possibility of oil reserves in and around the islands was discovered. Taiwan sent a destroyer to plant the flag and claim the island, Japan's naval forces have chased off Chinese fishing and "activist" boats. The three countries have been arguing since.

Strange thing, this scenario has been used by fiction authors such as Tom Clancy as 'what if' situations for the causus belli for an Asiatic war. Now with the elections in Taiwan and high tensions, we see a nice little propaganda piece dragging out the old friction. In keeping with China's goals of recreating the Middle Kingdom and expanding into the Pacific, this bears watching over the next few years.

[Dr. Marten]

Thanks for the history update.

I'll use this in class on Friday to strike up an arguement with my professor who seems to believe that everything under ths sun belongs to China.

[Ronin]

It's worth noting that China has claims for islands that are disputed with Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Korea as well as Japan.

In fact, China has claimed in the past that Okinawa is Chinese territory from "ancient times".

They are not getting Uotsuri-jima, the island where they landed and were arrested, or any of the Senkaku islands, I don't care what they call them in Chinese.

Japan doesn't have that much territory to begin with. They know that giving up an inch to China is the proverbial nose under the tent.

[Ophiucus]

Thanks for the history update.
I'll use this in class on Friday to strike up an arguement with my professor who seems to believe that everything under ths sun belongs to China.

You're welcome and have fun in your class.

As Ronin mentioned in an above post, China also has island disputes with Vietnam, Philippines, Malaysia, and Korea as well. The disputes fall into the same pattern with China claiming ancient rights over uninhabited islands that were essentially worthless until oil, gas, and mineral wealth possibilities emerged.

Here's some links on the Diaoyu Islands:
http://www-ibru.dur.ac.uk/docs/senkaku.html
http://www.american.edu/projects/mandala/TED/ice/DIAOYU.HTM
www.taipeitimes.com/News/edit/ archives/2003/01/08/190212

The Spratly Islands of the Philippines are another site of China's aggressive "claiming." These islands are thought by some to be more of a hot spot for armed conflict.
http://www.american.edu/TED/SPRATLY.HTM
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/279170.stm

Good luck arguing with what sounds to be a Leftist professor. China is a naked but wily aggressor in the Asian Pacific.

[Ophiucus]

It's worth noting that China has claims for islands that are disputed with Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Korea as well as Japan.

Good point so I included that in my other post.

Japan doesn't have that much territory to begin with. They know that giving up an inch to China is the proverbial nose under the tent.

The same would happen with any of the other nations that China has connived disputes with.

The more I have read about China, its history, and its vision for a future, the more concerned I have become that China is a greater threat to peace than any other nation. More so now that the collapse of the Soviet Union has removed a powerful check against Chinese expansion.

[Guillermo]

As long as they're Communists, your professor will support them...

[NZerFromHK]

It is lucky that you don't need to listen to Chinese-language radio about the whole dispute. I was listening to Hong Kong's Commercial Radio the other day (it is rebroadcasted by a radio station here) and Cheng King-hon (who is one of the most famous talkshow hosts in HK and he is very anti-CCP so he isn't exactly a Beijing agent) ranted that the People's Republic of China should send frigates to the islands to "show Japan Diaoyu Islands is Chinese territory." and he condemned Beijing's reaction as "cowardly".

Ming Pao (a newspaper widely read by the well educated Hong Kong Chinese - it is very pro-CCP, anti-American, and much more left-wing than the New York Times) is even more hysterical. If you understand Chinese and can stand the barf, you can read the editorial dated 25 March here (the full editorial needs registration):

http://www.mingpaonews.com/20040325/__mr001.htm

In it, it claimed that "facing the rise of the right-wing in Japan, China's restraint could be interpreted as coeardly. Because of this, China must adjust its policy towards Japan and cannot allow it to bully our patriotic Diaoyu activists..." and citing Japan's possible policies towards North Korea as "evidence of right-wing militaristic spirit that threatens peace in Asia", etc.

In fact, China has claimed in the past that Okinawa is Chinese territory from "ancient times".

I do remember when I was young and read Chinese history textbooks, they mentioned this account. I think up until the rise of Lee Teng-hui, Okinawa was considered a disputed territory pending independence/reintegration into China on both sides of the Taiwan Strait (both the PRC and pre-Lee Taiwan). Mourning for lost territory is a very powerful trait for Chinese spirit - I would say it is hundred times worse than the bitterness shown in "Remember the Alamo" in 19th century Texas.

If you look very carefully at China's territory under the early Qing dynasty period (cicra 1700) you see that in addition to today's China, Mongolia (we always call it Outer Mongolia - many Chinese wish that Mongolia will re-enter China as a very loose autonomous region in a free and democratic China because they believe it was the Soviet Union which tricked Mongolians towards independence and made Communist-era Mongolia a Soviet satellite state) and a large part of Russian Far East (as far north as Sakhalin - the whole area is equivalent to 160 Taiwans in area) all once belonged to China. There are many Chinese (who aren't necessarily Communist supporters) who are very bitter over these lost territories and think it is China's duty to bring these territories back to China's fold one day.

And I think the anti-Japan feeling among mainland Chinese is still skyrocket high. It is not unusual for Japanese tourists or businessen in China, or for other Japanese who have met Chinese students studying overseas to have seen Japan-bashing over the First Sino-Japanese war (the one in 1894), Manchuaria incident in 1931 (Also called the September 18 incident in Chinese) and the Second Sino-Japanese war (the more famous one from 1937-1945, called the War of Resistance from Chinese perspective). In fact I heard that the emotion is still so high that history teachers in China and Hong Kong frequently break down when teaching this period of Chinese history. Any disputes about Japanese consumer products in China will bring up talks of the Sino-Japanese war. It is sad, but that's how many Chinese would react when you mention Japan.

[Ronin]

China's ultimate designs on the entire sphere of the Pacific from Pearl Harbor to the Indian Ocean can be summed up in one word -- hegemony. They may not want the PRC flag flying from every flagpole, but they definitely want to be the biggest dog and the deciding power from Pearl Harbor to New Delhi.

And, while anti-Japanese sentiment may be strong in China (and truthfully in a lot of other nations as well) FEAR of China is the prevalent emotion for most of Japan's neighbors.

Nations like Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and even Australia may dislike the Japanese for what Japan has done in the past, but they fear what China is going to do tomorrow. They are smart enough to know that Japan is not expansionist, but China is.

On this particular issue, China knows better than to push Japan too hard. Sending frigates to the Senkaku islands would be a horrible mistake on China's part because this is the one, probably only, where the Japan Self Defense Forces would have to take military action -- and the JMSDF would eat China's lunch if they tried. The PLAN is not even in the same ballpark as the JMSDF.

There is no way, simply none at all, that Japan will ever allow itself to be dominated by China. It's not going to happen. And, if Japan has to deploy (already designed, you can be sure of that) strategic arms to make that point clear, it will.

Additionally, Japan also knows that if push comes to shove they have the U.S. Japan Security Treaty to fall back on.

Territorial integrity and China's expansionist vision of the future is the driving force behind every national defense budget from Manila to Jakarta, and in the final analysis, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

China would do well to remember that.

[Ophiucus]

Thanks for the HK view. It reinforces the concern for China's expansion.

[NZerFromHK]

I'm quite ashamed of these extreme nationalist sentiments from my fellow ethnic Chinese, even though I no longer consider myself as a HK Chinese and I have already renounced my Chinese nationality and the whole Diaoyu saga isn't related to me. This nationalist sentiment is INCOMPATIBLE with historical Chinese characters and the soul of traditional Confucian-Taoist thoughts. It is naked imperialism, pure Western-Marxist style.

[Travis McGee]

BUMP!

[Jeff Head]

Thanks for the ping Travis, and thanks for the great perspective NZer!

The desire for the Chinese (of many stripes) to regain Mongolia and Siberia and the continued long standing anger towards Japan, along with a desire by the mainland to "reunify" Taiwan, are all items that the leadership in China can draw on to arouse and inflame the people should they ever desire to expand...and I believe they do, it is only a matter of time.

All of this is explored in some detail in my novel series,

The Dragon's Fury Series
A techno-thriller series about World War III

...a story about what could happen as mainland China reaches a state of critical mass economically and decides to directly challeneg and eject the US from the Pacific rim.

[NZerFromHK]

Thanks for the feedback. The central issue is that traditional Chinese thinking on neighbours and foreign nations is dead long ago. Mao Zedong did the deed very successfully. You have the descendents of original Chinese, speaking Chinese, and eating Chinese food, but their thinking has been 100% "Western" (particularly Marxism, European blood-and-soil nationalism and self-deceiving sense of cultural superiority).

If you read traditional Chinese patriots' work, such as the late Chien Mu (the greatest thinker on traditoional Chinese culture in our time), Liang Qizhou (late Qing scholar who encouraged Reformation within the Qing sys), and Dr Sun Yat-sen (father of the modern China), none of them share the extreme nationalism and hatred of America and the West as today's mainland Chinese do. None of them actually think of establishing a web of puppet states for China in Eastern Asia either (although they do believe Mongolia should one day return to China - maybe with some form of internal autonomy). The current mainland Chinese notion of "national greatness" will sound like Western-style imperialism to them.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

In fact, China has claimed in the past that Okinawa is Chinese territory from "ancient times".

That is stretching it a bit. Okinawa was an independent kingdom albeit with close ties to China.

[Jeff Head]

Sun Yat-sen was a great individual.