Konflikti Kiinan merellä

[Museo]

Tämä koko käynnissä oleva Etelä-Kiinan meren konflikti tapahtuu niin hitaalla aikajänteellä että kyberaikakauden sotahulluilla on pieniä vaikeuksia sitä seurata. Tai sitten toiminta on veden alla pois ulkopuolisten silmistä.

 

[ctg]

A Chinese think-tank (via Zero Hedge) has predicted that military conflict between China and Japan is inevitable now, thanks in part to US meddling in the Asia-Pacific region.

With the rise of China as Asia’s leading economic power, a Chinese government think tank says the nation’s conflict with Japan over the Senkaku Islands is inevitable at a time when its bilateral relations are changing as a consequence.

The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) also said in its annual report that the two countries’ relationship will enter into a highly unstable period.

While thinking that the conflict over the islands could be prolonged, China is now paying attention to what action the new Japanese government, headed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, will take.

The “report on the development of the Asia-Pacific region” points out that China’s rapid development is raising anxieties in surrounding nations, forcing them into taking precautions and requiring them to accept the “readjustment” of the power balance.

As for the Senkaku Islands, the report explained that Japan’s right-wing groups, which have gained strength through the country’s two decades of a sluggish economy called “the lost 20 years,” regarded U.S. policy of “pivoting to Asia” as the best opportunity to nationalize the islands. In September, Japan purchased three of the five Senkaku Islands, called the Diaoyu Islands in China, from a private landowner.

Aggressive US meddling in the region has long been predicted to have ugly consequences, like bolstering hard-line nationalistic politicians on all sides. “Signs of a potential harsh reaction are already detectable,” a recent CSIS report said. “The US Asia pivot has triggered an outpouring of anti-American sentiment in China that will increase pressure on China’s incoming leadership to stand up to the United States. Nationalistic voices are calling for military countermeasures to the bolstering of America’s military posture in the region and the new US defense strategic guidelines.”

The US role in this and various other Asian territorial disputes is not one of a neutral player trying to avoid escalation. Rather, the US has pursued an aggressive posture of expanding military assets in the region and teaming up with all of China’s neighboring rivals to side with them on territorial issues in a nationalistic scheme to block China’s rise as a world power.

A veteran Chinese diplomat warned back in October that the US is using Japan as a strategic tool in its military surge in Asia-Pacific aimed at containing China and is heightening tensions between China and Japan. Chen Jia, who served as an under secretary general of the United Nations and as China’s ambassador to Japan, accused the US of encouraging a militaristic response by Japan. “The US is urging Japan to play a greater role in the region in security terms, not just in economic terms,” he said.

Underlying the dispute are two key factors: (1) Washington has reiterated its commitment to its mutual defense treaty with Japan, insisting that it will become involved militarily in the event of an outbreak of conflict; (2) Washington sees China as a rising power and increasing regional influence and is willing to crush that ascent to maintain its own global dominance.

Technocrats in Washington like to call all this “maintaining stability.” As is often the case, the reality on the ground is the polar opposite of the term used to described it. But Washington isn’t about to have it’s power undermined, is it?

http://antiwar.com/blog/2012/12/31/is-us-meddling-making-a-china-japan-war-inevitable/

 

[ctg]

As Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party national defense task force announced on Jan. 8 that it would increase the nation’s defense budget by more than 100 billion yen ($1.15 billion), three of five scenarios explored by the defense ministry recently involve the Self-Defense Forces squaring off against the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

While contingencies involving North Korea’s ballistic missiles and Russia were among the scenarios the defense ministry explored, the top three all involved a crisis in the East China Sea. The first scenario examined a war between China and Japan over the disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku islands in the East China Sea. Earlier on Tuesday Japan summoned the Chinese ambassador in Tokyo for the first time since Shinzo Abe was sworn in as prime minister to protest the continued presence of official Chinese ships in waters around the islets, which are claimed by Japan, Taiwan and China.

http://thediplomat.com/flashpoints-blog/2013/01/09/japan-explores-war-scenarios-with-china/

 

[ctg]

Japan’s defence ministry is considering authorising the country’s Air Self-Defence Force (ASDF) jets to fire warning shots when Chinese planes enter air space claimed by Japan, Japanese media reported yesterday.

Citing sources close to the Japanese government, the Sankei newspaper reported that Tokyo had instructed the defence ministry and ASDF to look at stepping up warnings to People’s Liberation Army planes and Chinese government aircraft that “intrude into Japanese air space”.

http://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1124161/japan-may-allow-jets-fire-warning-shots-chinese-aircraft

 

[ctg]

After repeatedly flying surveillance aircraft into disputed airspace with Japan, which made Tokyo scramble F-15s in response, China sent fighters of its own on Thursday into the East China Sea.

http://www.businessinsider.com/china-fighter-jet-flights-diaoyu-senkaku-islands-2013-1#ixzz2HxFkuCjO

 

[Tvälups]

yle uutiset Ulkomaat 2.2.2013 klo 17:50
Japanin pääministeri: Saaria puolustetaan "mihin hintaan hyvänsä"

Puheet Kiinan ja Japanin välisessä saarikiistassa kovenevat. Samaan aikaan Japani otti kiinni kiinalaisen kalastusaluksen Okinawan saaren lähellä.

Japanin pääministeri Shinzo Abe tiukentaa puheitaan Kiinan kanssa jatkuvassa saarikiistassa. Aben mukaan Japanin asevoimat puolustaa Kiinan vaatimia saaria "mihin hintaan hyvänsä".

Abe vieraili tänään lauantaina saariryhmän lähellä sijaitsevalla Okinawalla. Aben mukaan Kiinan toimet ovat alati kasvava uhka Japanin hallitsemia Senkaku-saaria kohtaan. Kiina pitää saaria omanaan. Kiinalainen nimi saarille on Diaoyu.

Japanin merivartiosto otti samaan aikaan Okinawan lähellä kiinni kiinalaisen kalastusveneen, jolla ei merivartioston mukaan ollut lupaa olla Japanin talousvyöhykkeellä. Kyseessä on ensimmäinen kerta sitten syyskuun 2010, kun Japanin laivasto ottaa kiinni kiinalaisaluksen.

Luvaton kalastus Japanin 200-merimailia leveällä talousvyöhykkeellä voi johtaa jopa 10 miljoonan jenin eli lähes 100 000 euron sakkoihin.

Kiinalaisalus oli alueella keräämässä korallia, jolla on Kiinassa paljon kysyntää korunvalmistuksessa.

Aiemmin tällä viikolla Japanin hallitus päätti lisätä puolustusmäärärahoja ensi kertaa yli kymmeneen vuoteen. Näin Japani varautuu saarien omistuksesta mahdollisesti käytävään konfliktiin Kiinan kanssa.

Lähteet:
AFP, AP

 

[Tvälups]

Jaahas, tuoltako se III maailmanpalo sitten roihahtaa käyntiin?

Länsimaat taitavat olla sidoksissa Japaniin Yhdysvaltain ja naton kautta. Miten lienee Venäjä ja muut Aasian maat?

 

[SJ]

Jaahas, tuoltako se III maailmanpalo sitten roihahtaa käyntiin?

Länsimaat taitavat olla sidoksissa Japaniin Yhdysvaltain ja naton kautta. Miten lienee Venäjä ja muut Aasian maat?

Sikäli kun olen asiaa seurannut, niin Kiinalla nuo naapurisuhteet ovat kuin ryssilläkin. Eli kiistoja on melkein kaikkien, ellei jopa ihan kaikkien kanssa. Ja luonnonvaroista johtuvat kiistat ovat vain lisääntyneet viimeaikoina. Ryssät saattaisivat puoltaa Kiinaa poliittisesti, mutta samalla nämä tietävät, että Kiinalaiset ovat kovasti kiinnostuneet Siperian luonnonvaroista, joten hekään tuskin tukevat suuremmin Kiinan laajentumisyrityksiä.

Kolmas maailmansota tuosta tuskin syttyy, joskin Kiina voisi koettaa laajentaa konfliktia laajemmalle, mutta näkisin Kiinan mahdollisuuksien olevan enemmän rajallisessa konfliktissa.

 

[Merten sheriffi]

Japanin mukaan kiinalaisfregatti on lukinnut ainakin yhteen otteeseen tutkansa japanilaisalukseen Itä-Kiinan merellä lähellä saariryhmää, josta maat kiistelevät.

Japanin yleisradioyhtiön NHK:n mukaan kyseessä oli tutka, jollaista käytetään tavallisesti apuna ohjusten ohjaamisessa.

Japanin puolustusministerin Itsunori Onoderan mukaan tapaus sattui 30. tammikuuta. Muutama päivä aiemmin samanlainen tutka lukittiin japanilaiseen sotilashelikopteriin, Onodera sanoo.

Hänen mukaansa kyseessä on hyvin epätavallinen toimi, jossa yksikin harha-askel voisi synnyttää hyvin vaarallisen tilanteen.

Japani on esittänyt Kiinalle vastalauseen ja kehottaa sitä pidättymään vastaavista toimista.

Japanin ja Kiinan kiistely Senkakun eli Diaoyun saariryhmästä on kiihtynyt viime kuukausina. Molemmat osapuolet ovat muun muassa lähettäneet partioaluksia lähelle saaria.

Lähteet: AFP, Reuters
http://yle.fi/uutiset/japani_kiinalaisfregatti_lukitsi_tutkansa_japanilaisalukseen/6481301

 

[ctg]

We don't know if it merely a coincidence that a story has emerged discussing a Chinese mobilization in response to the ongoing territorial feud with Japan over the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands (and the proximal massive gas field) the very week that China celebrates its new year (and days after news that a Chinese warship was very close to firing on a Japanese destroyer). We don't know how much of the story is based in reality, and how much may be propaganda or furthering someone's agenda. What we do know is that the source of the story: offshore-based, Falun Gong-affiliated NTDTV has historically been a credible source of information that the China communist party desperately tries to censor, such as breaking the news of the SARS epidemic in 2003 some three weeks before China publicly admitted it. Its motto is "to bring truthful and uncensored information into and out of China." If that is indeed the case, and its story of major troop movements and mobilization of various types of military vehicles and artillery into the Fujian and Zhejian provinces, bordering the East China Sea and closest to the Diaoyu islands, is accurate, then hostilities between China and Japan may be about to take a major turn for the worse.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2013-02-09/china-mobilizing-war-japan

 

[Hairysteed]

Jaahas, tuoltako se III maailmanpalo sitten roihahtaa käyntiin?

Länsimaat taitavat olla sidoksissa Japaniin Yhdysvaltain ja naton kautta.

Mitäs tekemistä NATO:lla on Japanin kanssa?

 

[Tvälups]

Yhdysvallat on naton suurin ja mahtavin jäsen. Eurooppalaiset ovat täysin sidoksissa jenkkeihin. USA takaa Japanin turvallisuuden, ja jos se joutuu vedetyksi Kiina-Japani -maaotteluun niin on varmaa, että viides artikla lyödään jälleen tiskiin. Siten.

 

[Tvälups]

yle uutiset Ulkomaat 22.2.2013 klo 11:35
Kiina ja Japani nokittelevat taas toisiaan

Kiina tuohtui, kun Yhdysvalloissa vieraileva Japanin pääministeri arvosteli Kiinaa aluekiistojen lietsomisesta Kaakkois-Aasiassa.

Kiina on arvostellut jyrkin sanoin Japanin pääministeriä Shinzo Abea haastattelusta, jonka tämä on antanut yhdysvaltalaiselle Washington Post -lehdelle.

Yhdysvalloissa vieraileva Abe arvostelee haastattelussa Kiinan johtoa pinttyneestä tavasta haastaa naapurimaitaan aluekysymyksissä.

Kiista pienten Etelä-Kiinan meren omistuksesta on tulehduttanut pahoin Japanin ja Kiinan välejä. Kiinalla on Etelä-Kiinan merellä samantyyppisiä aluekiistoja myös muiden Kaakkois-Aaasian maiden kanssa.

Pääministeri Aben mukaan Kiinan asenne haittaa sen taloutta ja karkottaa ulkomaisia investoijia. Lisäksi Kiinan tapauksessa isänmaallisten asenteiden opettaminen merkitsee samalla japanilaisvastaisten asenteiden opettamista, sanoo Abe Washington Postissa.

- On harvinaista, että valtiojohtaja vääristelee häpeämättömästi tosiasioita, hyökkää naapurin vastaan ja lietsoo alueen maiden välille vastakkainasetteluja

- Hong Lei

Kiinan ulkoministeriön tiedottaja Hong Lei sanoo Kiinan viranomaisten järkyttyneen Aben kommenteista.

- On harvinaista, että valtiojohtaja vääristelee häpeämättömästi tosiasioita, hyökkää naapureita vastaan ja lietsoo alueen maiden välille vastakkainasetteluja, sanoi Hong Kiinan valtiollisen Global Times -lehden mukaan. Hongin mukaan Kiina vaatii Abelta selitystä.

Etelä-Kiinan merellä sijaitsevat saaret tunnetaan Kiinassa nimellä Diaoyus ja Japanissa nimellä Senkaku. Kiista on jatkunut vuodesta 1895, jolloin Japani sai maiden välisen sodan jälkeen saaren haltuunsa. Myös Taiwan on vaatinut luonnonvaroiltaan rikasta aluetta itselleen. Alueella on muun muassa kaasua.

Lähteet:
AFP

 

[ctg]

Prime minister Shinzo Abe made the statement during a visit to the United States following China's growing incursions into the area.

He was visiting the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington accompanied by the US President Barack Obama.

The Japanese leader insisted that history and international law proved that the islands, known as the Senkaku in Japanese and the Diaoyu in Chinese, "are Japan's sovereign territory".

Mr Obama has called for the two nations to work on common interests and said that Japan's relations with China are "among the most important" with any country.

Tokyo annexed the islands in 1895.

Mr Abe said no-one contested Japan's sovereignty between that time and 1971, the year before the United States returned the islands after seizing them in World War II.

China, however, disputes the Japanese position, arguing that it has controlled the islands since the 1368-1644 Ming Dynasty.

Taiwan also claims the area.

Japan says China only recently became interested in the islands after discovering that the area was potentially rich in gas and oil.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-02-23/an-japan-china-islands-dispute/4535644

 

[ctg]

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, whose country is in conflict with China over islets in the East China Sea, cited former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s reflections on the 1982 Falkland Islands war to stress the importance of the rule of law at sea. During a speech to parliament on Thursday, Abe said Japan’s national interests “lie in making the seas, which are the foundation of our nation’s existence, completely open, free and peaceful,” the Telegraph reported.

The Japanese Prime Minister, who took office in December, quoted Thatcher’s memoirs reflecting the Falkland Islands war, in which she said Britain was defending the fundamental principle that international law should prevail over the use of force, according to Reuters.

http://stratrisks.com/

 

[ctg]

Inside of all the world's gadgets–all of our technology in general, really–is a melange of rare earth elements, which aren't as hard to find as their name suggests, but which are hard to mine efficiently. Currently, China pretty much dominates the world market for the crucial elements, but a huge find underneath Japan's seas may now help break that stranglehold.

China wasn't always dominant in the rare earth game. Other countries, including the US and war-torn Congo, have and still do mine for the metals. But over the years, China used its massive domestic supply to outprice operations around the world, which eventually disappeared. Then, in 2010, China began restricting supply, which caused uproar from the EU, US, and Japan, who all complained to the World Trade Organization.

That served as a huge wake-up call: Everyone from the US military to the Japanese auto industry realized that they needed to find new sources for the 14 commonly used rare earth elements. Japan is especially at risk, as the country's economy is the source of about half the world's demand for the metals–dysprosium, for example, is used in smartphone screens, and rare earth magnets in hybrid car motors.

Read more: http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/how-deep-sea-mud-found-off-a-tiny-japanese-island-may-change-the-gadget-economy#ixzz2OwlYSu5o
Follow us: @motherboard on Twitter | motherboardtv on Facebook

 

[Tvälups]

yle uutiset Ulkomaat 23.4.2013 klo 6:29
Kiinalaisalukset lähellä kiisteltyä saariryhmää

Kiina ja Japani ovat kiistelleet asumattomasta saariryhmästä jo 1800-luvulta asti.

Kahdeksan Kiinan hallituksen alusta on saapunut tiistaina Japanin aluevesille. Japanin rannikkovartioston mukaan alukset ovat Etelä-Kiinan merellä, lähellä kiisteltyä saariryhmää.

Myös Japanista lähti varhain tiistaina kymmenen pienen aluksen laivue kohti asumatonta saariryhmää. Uutistoimisto Reutersin mukaan noin 80 aktivistia kuljettanut ryhmä kuitenkin vetäytyi alueelta Japanin rannikkovartioston käskystä, sillä Kiinan tarkkailualukset olivat lähettyvillä.

Maat ovat kiistelleet saarten omistuksesta jo vuodesta 1895 asti, jolloin Japani sai saariryhmän haltuunsa maiden välisen sodan jälkeen. Asumaton saariryhmä tunnetaan japaniksi nimellä Senkaku ja kiinaksi nimellä Diaoyus. Saarten läheisillä merialueilla on merkittäviä raaka-aine-esiintymiä.

Uutistoimisto AFP:n mukaan Japani on kutsunut Kiinan suurlähettilään keskustelemaan Kiinan laivueen tiistaisista liikkeistä. Kiinan alukset ovat käyneet kiistellyillä vesillä aikaisemminkin.

Lähteet:
AFP, Reuters

 

[ctg]

A senior Chinese military officer has said the Ryukyu Islands -- which include Okinawa and its US military bases -- "do not belong to Japan", as a territorial row mounts between the Asian powers.

The comments by People's Liberation Army Major General Luo Yuan were published by the China News Service website Tuesday, after the country's leading newspaper last week carried a call to review Tokyo's sovereignty over the chain.

Luo emphasised that the islands were historically in a vassal relationship with imperial Chinese dynasties.

Those ties did not necessarily mean they were part of China, he said, adding: "But we can be certain of one point. The Ryukyus don't belong to Japan."

"(If) the Ryukyus don't belong to you," he said, referring to Tokyo, "how can you talk about the Diaoyus?"

China and Japan have been in a long-running dispute over islands in the East China Sea that Tokyo administers as the Senkakus, but Beijing claims as the Diaoyus.

The row intensified last year after Japan purchased islands in the chain it did not already own, sparking outrage in China, with anti-Japanese demonstrations taking place in Chinese cities.

Chinese vessels regularly enter waters around the islands and Japan has scrambled jets to ward off Chinese flights in the area, stoking fears of armed conflict.

Analysts have said questions in China about the Ryukyus' status are probably aimed at pressuring Japan to make concessions in the dispute over the islands, which are administratively part of Okinawa prefecture.

Luo seemed to back up such a view, saying that by raising the issue of the Ryukyus, China struck a blow at Japan's "soft spot".

Last Wednesday, the People's Daily, China's most-circulated newspaper and the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist party, carried an article by scholars arguing that the country may have rights to the Ryukyus.

Japan says the islands are its territory and are accepted as such internationally.

Before being annexed into Japan in the late 19th century, the independent Ryukyu kingdom, centred on Okinawa, paid tribute to China for centuries -- as did numerous other traditional Asian states -- often receiving favourable trading rights in return.

Okinawa hosts major US air force and marine bases and is home to 1.3 million people. The US military occupied Okinawa and some other islands in the Ryukyu chain for 27 years after the end of World War II, returning them to Japan on May 15, 1972.

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Chinese_general_says_Okinawa_not_Japans_999.html

 

[Tvälups]

yle Uutiset Ulkomaat 8.8.2013 klo 6:48
Japanin ja Kiinan saarikiista kuumenee jälleen

Japani kutsui Kiinan suurlähettilään puhutteluun kiinalaisalusten seilattua Senkaku-saarten lähelle. Kiina pitää Diaoyu-saariksi kutsumaansa aluetta omanaan.

Japanin ja Kiinan pienestä saariryhmästä käymä kiista on jälleen kuumentumassa. Japani kutsui Kiinan suurlähettilään puhutteluun sen jälkeen, kun joukko kiinalaisaluksia seilasi Japanin hallitsemien Senkaku-saarten vesille.

Japanin ulkoministeriön mukaan kiinalaislaivat ovat edelleen alueella.

Kiina pitää Diaoyu-saariksi kutsumaansa aluetta omanaan ja maat ovat nokitelleet saarien hallinnasta lukuisia kertoja.

Saarten läheisillä merialueilla on merkittäviä raaka-aine-esiintymiä.

Lähteet:
AFP

 

[ctg]

China has demarcated an "air-defence identification zone" over an area of the East China Sea, covering islands that are also claimed by Japan.
China's Defence Ministry said aircraft entering the zone must obey its rules or face "emergency defensive measures". The zone came into effect from 10:00 local time (02:00 GMT) on Saturday.

The islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, are a source of rising tension between the countries.

In its statement, the Defence Ministry said aircraft must report a flight plan, "maintain two-way radio communications", and "respond in a timely and accurate manner" to identification inquiries. "China's armed forces will adopt defensive emergency measures to respond to aircraft that do not co-operate in the identification or refuse to follow the instructions," said the statement.

A map posted on Twitter by state news agency Xinhua showed the zone covering a wide area of the East China Sea, including regions very close to South Korea and Japan. Rising tensions Responding to questions about the zone on an official state website, a defence ministry spokesman, Yang Yujun, said China set up the area "with the aim of safeguarding state sovereignty, territorial land and air security, and maintaining flight order".

"It is not directed against any specific country or target," he said, adding that China "has always respected the freedom of over-flight in accordance with international law".

"Normal flights by international air liners in the East China Sea Air Defence Identification Zone will not be affected in any way."

There has been no response so far from Japan.
The islands have been a source of tension between China and Japan for decades. In 2012, the Japanese government bought three of the islands from their Japanese owner, sparking mass protests in Chinese cities. Since then, Chinese ships have repeatedly sailed in and out of what Japan says are its territorial waters. In September this year, Japan said it would shoot down unmanned aircraft in Japanese airspace after an unmanned Chinese drone flew close to the disputed islands.

China said that any attempt by Japan to shoot down Chinese aircraft would constitute "an act of war".

Last month Japan's defence minister, Itsunori Onodera, said China's behaviour over the disputed East China Sea islands was jeopardising peace.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-25062525

Tokyo has branded as "very dangerous" a move by Beijing to set up an "air defence identification zone" over an area that includes disputed islands controlled by Japan, but claimed by China.

In a move that raised the temperature of a bitter territorial row between the two countries, China's defence ministry said that it was setting up the zone to "guard against potential air threats".

It later scrambled air force jets, including fighter planes, to carry out a patrol mission on Saturday in the newly-established zone.
The outline of the zone, which is shown on the Chinese defence ministry website and a state media Twitter account , covers a wide area of the East China Sea between South Korea and Taiwan that includes airspace above the Tokyo-controlled islands known as the Senkaku to Japan and Diaoyu to China.

Junichi Ihara, who heads the Japanese foreign ministry's Asian and Oceanian affairs bureau, lodged a protest by phone to Han Zhiqiang, minister at the Chinese Embassy in Japan, the ministry said in a statement.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-...ina-air-defence-zone-2013112313117557543.html