Diaoyu Islands News and Updates

[ahfatzia]

Japan boosts defence of disputed islands

Japan helicopters fly over troops on a drill, Jan 13


TOKYO: Japan will deploy two more patrol ships to boost its defence of islands at the centre of a territorial row with China and has conducted its first drill simulating the recapture of an isle seized by enemy forces.

The vessels will be stationed at the regional coast guard headquarters which covers the Japanese-controlled Senkaku islands in the East China Sea, known as the Diaoyus in China, Japanese public broadcaster NHK said Monday.

The 335-tonne "Kurose" and the 3,100-tonne "Chikuzen", equipped with a helicopter, will be deployed in August and October respectively, NHK reported.

On Sunday, Japan's Ground Self-Defense Force carried out the nation's first military exercise designed to recapture "a remote island invaded by an enemy force," officials said.

Some 300 troops took part in the 40-minute drill with 20 warplanes and more than 30 military vehicles at the Narashino Garrison in Chiba, southeast of Tokyo.

Some 80 personnel from the SDF's First Airborne Brigade rappelled from helicopters with parachutes in front of some 11,000 spectators to demonstrate manoeuvres to counter an enemy invasion of a remote island.

"We will strengthen the deployment of the Self-Defense Force in response to the tougher security environment surrounding our country," Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera told the military.

Chinese government ships and planes have been seen off the disputed islands numerous times since Japan nationalised them in September, sometimes within the 12 nautical-mile territorial zone.

Tokyo's defence ministry has said that F-15s were sent airborne to head off Chinese state-owned -- but not military -- planes four times in December, including an occasion when Japanese airspace was breached.

They were also mobilised in January, it said.

Japan plans to spend an extra 180.5 billion yen ($2.0 billion) on missiles, fighter jets and helicopters, an official said last week, as it tries to strengthen defence capabilities with concerns growing over a rising China.

The announcement came after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ruling Liberal Democratic Party said Japan would increase military spending for the first time in 11 years in the next fiscal year starting April.

Japan boosts defence of disputed islands - Channel NewsAsia


The game is heating up

 

[Vitchilo]

RANsquawk - Real-time Analysis & News Ltd

- Japan's defense ministry is considering stationing F-15 fighter jets at an airport on Shimojijima Island in Okinawa Prefecture to be able to deal more promptly with Chinese aircraft entering Japanese airspace, according to Japanese government sources.

 

[ahfatzia]

China to survey islands disputed with Japan


BEIJING: China is to carry out a geographical survey of islands in the East China Sea at the centre of a bitter dispute with Japan, state media said Tuesday.

The survey of the Diaoyu islands -- known as Senkakus in Japan, which controls them -- was part of a programme to map China's "territorial islands and reefs", the Xinhua news agency said, citing a state geographical agency.

The maritime dispute, which has simmered off and on for years, intensified last year when the Japanese government nationalised islands in the small chain it did not already own, triggering anger and demonstrations in China.

The protests were allowed to take place by the Communist authorities in Beijing, who use nationalism to bolster their claims to legitimacy, particularly regarding Japan, which occupied parts of China in the 20th century.

The mapping exercise was part of China's efforts to "safeguard its maritime rights and interests", Xinhua said, without saying when it would take place or making clear whether it would involve activities on land, as opposed to sea-based surveying.

It quoted Zhang Huifeng, an official with China's National Administration of Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation, acknowledging that there could be "difficulties".

"There are some difficulties in landing on some islands to survey, and in surveying and mapping the surrounding sea area of the islands, because some countries infringed and occupied these islands of China," he said.

Both Tokyo and Beijing have scrambled fighter jets to the area in recent weeks in a further escalation of the row, though no actual clashes have taken place.

China's armed forces have been instructed to raise their fighting ability in 2013 and "should focus closely on the objective of being able to fight and win a battle", state media said.

Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported Monday that Japan will deploy two more patrol ships to boost its defence of the islands and has conducted its first drill simulating the recapture of an isle seized by enemy forces.

Xinhua said that the survey was part of a programme begun in 2009 and by the end of 2012, China had completed the identification and "precise positioning" of approximately 6,400 islands.

In September China announced the "base points and baselines of the territorial waters of the Diaoyu Islands", filing details with the United Nations as part of the diplomatic sparring over the issue.

Within days China's State Oceanic Administration released geographic information about the islands in what Xinhua called a "new move to affirm China's sovereignty".

The data included "the exact longitude and latitude of the Diaoyu Island and 70 of its affiliated islets", along with "location maps, three-dimension effect graphs and sketch maps for the Diaoyu Islands", Xinhua added.

Last month Beijing also submitted to the UN information on the outer limits of its continental shelf in a bid to bolster its claim to the islands.

China also has disputes with several Southeast Asian countries over islands and reefs in the South China Sea. Japan, meanwhile, has a dispute with South Korea over small islets in waters about halfway between their countries.

Tokyo also has a long-running dispute with Russia over northern islands seized by the Soviet Union at the end of the Second World War.

China to survey islands disputed with Japan - Channel NewsAsia

 

[Vitchilo]

9 US F-22 fighters deployed in Okinawa - China.org.cn

9 US F-22 fighters deployed in Okinawa

Three more fighters of this kind are expected to arrive at Kadena shortly

Go ahead China, J-11s vs F-22s, it'll be hilarious.

 

[ahfatzia]

U.S. delegation seeks to calm spats between Japan, South Korea


(Reuters) - The United States sent its top Asian diplomacy and security officials to South Korea and Japan to calm tensions between two U.S. allies whose squabbling has frustrated efforts to deal with a troublesome North Korea and an increasingly assertive China.

The high-powered delegation from the White House, Pentagon and State Department departed on Monday and will be visiting the region shortly after the election of a new nationalist-leaning Japanese government in December and before Seoul inaugurates a new president in February.

Washington hopes South Korea and Japan can put a lid on spats over history and territory stemming from Japan's 1910-45 occupation of Korea. U.S. officials also seek to reassure Tokyo as it confronts almost daily challenges from China over which has sovereignty of disputed islets in a separate, more dangerous, territorial row with Beijing.

The long-simmering disputes erupted anew last year, plunging Tokyo's ties with Seoul and Beijing to troubling lows and casting a cloud over the President Barack Obama's signature policy for East Asia - rebalancing security forces in the region - in part to cope with a surging China.

"We want to see the new Japanese government, the new South Korean government, all of the countries in Northeast Asia working together and solving any outstanding issues, whether they are territorial, whether they're historic, through dialogue," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said last week.

Troubles between Asia's second and fourth biggest economies are frustrating to Washington at a time when a defiant North Korea has tested a long-range rocket and may be poised to conduct its third nuclear test.

CLEARING TENSIONS FROM 2012

In one of the final acts before Obama brings in a new national security team for his second term, Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell, Assistant Secretary of Defense Mark Lippert and Daniel Russel, the National Security Council senior director for Asian affairs, will meet with officials in Seoul and Tokyo.

U.S. officials regularly meet counterparts from the two countries, which have been American allies since the 1950s and together host most of the 80,000 U.S. troops in Asia. But the antagonistic nationalism that flared up in Asian capitals last year makes this trip anything but routine.

The Japan-South Korea dispute intensified in August when President Lee Myung-bak became the first South Korean leader to set foot on islands claimed by both countries but controlled by Seoul. They are known as Dokdo in Korea and Takeshima in Japan.

Lee's visit and his call for Emperor Akihito to go beyond earlier expressions of "deepest regrets" for Japan's colonial rule followed South Korea's last-minute cancellation of a bilateral agreement with Japan on sharing intelligence.

The troubles between Seoul and Tokyo coincided with a standoff between Japan and China over another cluster of islets, known as the Diaoyu in China and the Senkaku in Japan.

The dispute sparked violent anti-Japanese protests in China last summer that damaged Japanese businesses in China. Last year's protests have been followed by a consumer boycott and repeated incursions by Chinese boats and planes into seas and airspace around the islands, which are controlled by Japan.

The ships and aircraft that have appeared to challenge Japanese control of those waters and force Tokyo to end its refusal to acknowledge that a territorial dispute exists have been Chinese government vessels. So far China has stopped short of sending military vessels into disputed areas.

But analysts warn of the potential for miscalculation. Any Japan-China conflict could embroil the United States, which says that the islets are covered under the U.S.-Japan security treaty - even though Washington takes no position on the sovereignty dispute.

ABE: NATIONALISM OR PRAGMATISM?

Another understated aim of the U.S. mission to Tokyo this week is to convince Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to step away from some of the more nationalist policies of the platform on which he campaigned and won office on last month.

Washington is particularly concerned about Abe's previous calls to revise or rescind a landmark 1995 apology for Japan's wartime aggression and 1993 statement acknowledging an official Japanese role in the recruiting of tens of thousands of mostly South Korean "comfort women" to serve troops during World War Two.

Such actions would anger Asian nations that suffered from Japan's militarism, further complicating both U.S. attempts to manage ties between its allies in the region and relations with China, which also is ushering in new leadership in March.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said last week that Abe would stand by the 1995 apology. Although Abe packed his Cabinet with politicians who hold extremely revisionist views of history, analysts are predicting policies will be pragmatic, with a focus on reviving the economy.

"The Abe administration basically will not touch foreign diplomacy and security affairs before the Upper House election" in July, former Vice Minister for Defense Motohiro Oono of the opposition Democratic Party of Japan told a think tank panel in Washington last week.

Bruce Klingner, an analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said recent statements from Abe have been "suitably nuanced." He said during Abe's 2006-7 tenure as prime minister, he "defied many of the same predictions by maintaining and even improving Japan's relations with its neighbors."

Abe's gestures to neighbors include sending an envoy to meet South Korean President-elect Park Geun-hye; announcing that his first overseas trip since winning office will be to Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand; and offering to supply the Philippines with 10 coast guard vessels and communications equipment to help Manila in its territorial dispute with China.

U.S. delegation seeks to calm spats between Japan, South Korea | Reuters


The team is bring directives from Washington

 

[grandmaster]

U.S. delegation seeks to calm spats between Japan, South Korea


(Reuters) - The United States sent its top Asian diplomacy and security officials to South Korea and Japan to calm tensions between two U.S. allies whose squabbling has frustrated efforts to deal with a troublesome North Korea and an increasingly assertive China.

The high-powered delegation from the White House, Pentagon and State Department departed on Monday and will be visiting the region shortly after the election of a new nationalist-leaning Japanese government in December and before Seoul inaugurates a new president in February.


"We want to see the new Japanese government, the new South Korean government, all of the countries in Northeast Asia working together and solving any outstanding issues, whether they are territorial, whether they're historic, through dialogue," State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said last week.
The dispute sparked violent anti-Japanese protests in China last summer that damaged Japanese businesses in China. Last year's protests have been followed by a consumer boycott and repeated incursions by Chinese boats and planes into seas and airspace around the islands, which are controlled by Japan.
...

so, the US wants every country in the region works with japan to counter china! to neutralize their idea, china should spread the anti japan sentiment and call for boycotting of japanese goods more. by boycotting japanese goods, Abe's economic recover plans will fail. recovery fails, no money---> all connections of japan with india, vietnam and philippine will be broken!

 

[Knight of Tang]

WTF do you canadians have?

9 US F-22 fighters deployed in Okinawa - China.org.cn


Go ahead China, J-11s vs F-22s, it'll be hilarious.

 

[Jose4Zhou]

Jealousy may be not a proper word. I think fear is better. Neighbours need time to accept the rised china.
Anyway war is the worst option.

 

[grandmaster]

Jealousy may be not a proper word. I think fear is better. Neighbours need time to accept the rised china.
Anyway war is the worst option.

there are always many options. like F22 vs missile!

 

[Vitchilo]

WTF do you canadians have?

F-16s. Still a match for J-11s.

there are always many options. like F22 vs missile!

Yeah if the missile can find the plane.

 

[Vitchilo]

Japan, US fighter planes in joint drill: official

Japan, US fighter planes in joint drill: official

US and Japanese fighter jets on Tuesday carried out joint air exercises, an official said, days after Chinese and Japanese military planes shadowed each other near disputed islands in the East China Sea.

The five-day exercise involves six US FA-18 fighters and around 90 American personnel, along with four Japanese F-4 jets and an unspecified number of people, the official said.

The drill is being carried out over Pacific waters off the coast of Shikoku, the fourth largest of Japan's islands.

On Tuesday, one Chinese state-owned Y-12 plane flew close to -- but not inside -- the airspace of the disputed islands, triggering the scrambling of Japanese fighter jets, the defence ministry in Tokyo said.

 

[Knight of Tang]

You really know nothing about military affairs. F-16 is a match for J-11, You PE teacher told you that?
Besides, I always get curious about the functionality of your ministry of foreign affairs, is that really necessary?

F-16s. Still a match for J-11s.


Yeah if the missile can find the plane.

 

[Vitchilo]

F-16 has a proven record. J-11 on the other hand, doesn't have any. Also, western pilots have much more training than Chinese pilots.

So please, facts are against you. Stop believing all your government propaganda about your planes being better than anybody because they are Chinese, this is ridiculous.

 

[mastaan]

BEIJING: The action in the skies over the East China Sea started simply enough. Last week, the Chinese government sent a civilian surveillance plane, a twin propeller aircraft, to fly near the uninhabited islands at the heart of a growing feud between China and Japan.

Tokyo, in response, ordered F-15 fighter jets to take a look at what it considered Chinese meddling. The Chinese then sent their own fighters.

It was the first time that supersonic Chinese and Japanese military fighters were in the air together since the dispute over the islands erupted last year, significantly increasing the risk of a mistake that could lead to armed conflict at a time when both countries, despite their mutual economic interests, are going through a period of heightened nationalism that recalls their longstanding regional rivalry.

The escalation comes amid a blast of belligerent discourse in China and as the Obama administration has delayed a visit to Washington requested by Shinzo Abe, the new prime minister of Japan, the United States' main ally in Asia. After the rebuff, Abe announced that he would embark on a tour of Southeast Asia intended to counter China's influence in the region. On Friday, as Abe cut short his trip to return to Tokyo to deal with the hostage crisis in Algeria, secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton said in Washington that Abe would meet with President Obama in the second half of February.

For Japan and China, what began as a seemingly minor dispute is quickly turning into a gathering storm, military analysts and western diplomatic officials warn, as each country appears determined to force the other to give ground.

"What is really driving things is raw nationalism and fragmented political systems, both on the Japanese and even more so the Chinese sides, that is preventing smart people from making rational decisions," said Thomas Berger, an associate professor of international relations at Boston University. "No Chinese or Japanese leader wants or can afford to be accused of selling out their country."

The backdrop for the dispute is the changing military and economic dynamic in the region. In Japan, which rose from utter defeat in World War II to become a prosperous global economic power, many experts talk of a nation preparing for an "elegant" decline. But Abe has made clear that he does not subscribe to that idea and hopes to stake out a tough posture on the islands as a way of engineering a Japanese comeback.

In contrast, Beijing brims with confidence, reveling in the belief that the 21st century belongs to China — with the return of the islands the Chinese call the Diaoyu and the Japanese refer to as the Senkaku as a starting point.

Though Japan is far richer than China on a per-person basis, its economy has been stagnant for years and contracted once again in the second half of 2012. It was hit hard by a slowdown in exports to China after the island dispute erupted in August; Chinese protesters disrupted Japanese plants in China and boycotted Japanese products during the autumn. The value of Japanese exports to China fell by 17 per cent between June and November, the World Bank said this week.

China's fast-growing military still lags behind the Japanese self-defence forces in sophistication of weaponry and training, but Japan's edge is diminishing, according to Dr Berger, an expert on the Japanese military, and other western defence analysts.

For now the Chinese military wants to avoid armed conflict over the islands, Dr Berger said, but its longer-term goal is to pressure Japan to give up its administration of the islands. That would give China a break in what is known in China as the "first island chain," a string including the Diaoyu, that prevents China's growing ballistic submarine fleet from having unobserved access to the Pacific Ocean. Taiwan is part of the "first island chain," as are smaller islands controlled by Vietnam and the Philippines.

"The Chinese leadership seems to think that the cards are in their favor, and if they push long and hard enough, the Japanese have to cave," Dr Berger said.

A senior American military official said that Washington considered China's decision to send its fighter jets in response to Japan's to be "imprudent" but not a violation of international law. The Chinese jets had entered what is known as Japan's air defence identity zone, but had not infringed Japan's airspace, the official said.

The United States was watching closely and advising restraint on both sides, because there is no established method of communication — or hot line — between Japan and China that can be used in the event of a confrontation. With jet fighters from both countries aloft last week, "the potential for mistakes that could have broader consequences" was vastly increased, the official said.

The Chinese state-run news media have stepped up their hawkish tone since the episode. On Abe's trip to Southeast Asia, which the Chinese say is intended to create a pro-Japan alliance, the overseas edition of People's Daily newspaper said, "Even the United States, the world's sole superpower, acknowledged that it cannot encircle and contain China, so why should Japan?"

Chinese experts express similar views. In an interview, Hu Lingyuan, the deputy director of the Center for Japanese Studies at Fudan University in Shanghai, described Abe as a Japanese nationalist who was trying to overextend Japan's reach. "The Diaoyu conflict keeps escalating," he said. "A solution is not possible." And as the commentary became harsher, the Chinese news media stressed reports of training by the military's East China Sea units. Dozens of J-10 fighter jets participated in a live ammunition drill with the navy's East China Sea fleet, the state run news agency, Xinhua, reported Thursday.

Before returning to Japan, Abe spoke to reporters in Jakarta, Indonesia. He said he opposed "changing the status quo by force," and called on China to behave in a responsible manner.

"The seas is a public asset that should not be governed by force but by rule of law that keeps it freely open to all," he said. "We will work with Asean nations to do our utmost to defend this."

With a top United States diplomat, Kurt M Campbell, in Tokyo this week, Washington is urging both sides to open a dialogue.

But the initial signs are not particularly promising. On Thursday, a former Japanese prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama of the opposition Democratic Party, met in Beijing with Jia Qinglin, the chairman of the national committee of the Chinese People's political consultative conference.

The setting looked conciliatory. China, however, used the occasion to make a point that was immediately rejected in Tokyo. Jia called for talks with Japan over the disputed islands, an idea that Japan has always said was unacceptable. Japanese governments have consistently maintained that the islands rightfully belong to Japan and that there is nothing to discuss.

Martin Fackler contributed reporting from Tokyo. Bree Feng contributed research.

As dispute over islands escalates, Japan and China send fighter jets to scene - The Times of India

What's with this news folks? Press sensationalism or some big risks are indeed emerging?

 

[3Idiots]

Irrespective of the outcome of these "small" things.. it's yet another step towards annihilation of PRC.

The only interesting question is that whether it will be a military annhiliation (like Nazi Germany) or a peaceful demise (like USSR).