This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.
Japan Prime Minister Refuses To Cede To Chinese Demands For Apology As Japanese Protester Throws Smoke Flare At Chinese Consulate
Just as everyone was expecting things between China and Japan to moderate quickly following the fishing trawler incident, things just got heated again. Early Sunday, Japanese PM Naoto Kan violently rejected China's demand that Tokyo apologize and compensate for detaining a Chinese fisherman. The PM has already suffered stinging critique at home for relenting to release the boat captain after Chinese pressure, demonstrating just how tight tensions between the two countries remain to be, especially when it comes to how weak they believe they are perceived by the international community. "Senkaku is a Japanese territory. From that point of view, apology or compensation is unthinkable," Kan told reporters. "I have no intention at all of meeting (the demand). Both sides should first become calm and (then) deepen mutually beneficial strategic ties. What is necessary is for both to calm down and act based on a broad perspective."And while the boating incident occurred near islands in the South China Sea where the waters are believed to be rich in oil and natural gas, the last thing this spat is about is commodity access: it is all about the historical animosity between the two cultures, and with China's economy on the ascent, and owning more American IOUs than Japan, one can see why the Japanese sense of sovereign pride may have been challenged.
From Reuters:
Kan's government has come under fire from domestic media and ruling as well as opposition lawmakers for "caving in" to Chinese pressure by releasing the captain after China detained four Japanese citizens, although Japanese officials denied a linkage.
The four were detained on suspicion of violating the law regarding protection of Chinese military facilities, though the exact offence is not clear.
A former Japanese foreign minister said that international perceptions of China would be hurt by its refusal to back down.
"It was our territory and there was no fault in arresting him in accordance with the law," Katsuya Okada, secretary-general of the ruling Democratic Party and foreign minister until a September 17 cabinet reshuffle, told public broadcaster NHK.
"There have been views that this affair was a complete defeat for Japan, but this was a loss for China. China showed the world what kind of a country it is."
We believe that those who think this incident is now over, are in for a rude awakening. At this point it is sure to only escalate, with brief periods of calm, as the entire world recedes into the hypermodern equivalent of world war: protectionism, trade wars and FX intervention.
A Japanese man was arrested in Nagasaki, western Japan, on Sunday after he threw what appeared to be a smoke flare into the grounds of the Chinese consulate general, Kyodo news agency said.
The consulate general was unstaffed, and no one was injured, Kyodo said, adding that police believed the incident could be related to the territorial spat.
At the end of the day, he who has the biggest printer, wins.
»
- 4516 reads
- Printer-friendly version
- Send to friend
- advertisements -
Govt tensions are triggers sometimes. Japan, China add a looming trade war and cascades happen. 1987 black monday was preceded that friday with the first triple digit down day in history ( - 150 pts ). Then over the weekend the Germans said they were going to let their currency float. Because of the uncertainty on monday portfolio insurance had selling creating more selling. HFT is probably todays equal.
china's actions in this affair are aimed at the us, not japan. japan is simply the local client state, of the us, that is being used to send a message. that message is that the us cannot, will not intervene in any meaningful way.
not only does china have the ability to absolutely influence the trade based market values of both the us $ and the japanese yen, but china has carefully developed a 'loyal' constituency on wall street that will support chinese interests, and, china has almost certainly already purchased pre-paid protection in the illicit 'sporting house' known as the us congress.
the us is slowly being isolated from their global allies; first it was europe, now it is japan. when japan finally realizes that they have no choice but to come to terms with china, it is game, set, match...............
Why should Japan come to terms with an inveterate enemy when they can remain allied to a conveniently distant yet powerful US?
Accomodation with China would spell capitulation and slow strangulation of Japan. The Japanese know this.
The fact is Chinese culture is more alien to Japan than is the US.
As for your ruminations on the power struggle vis a vis the US and China, it is laughable to imagine that China, for all their t-bills, can ever move the US where its vital concerns are concerned. Granted there is no bigger bunch of whores in the world than are found in DC, China just doesn't have the gravity to move US geopolitical policy as established these last sixty five years.
Japan alone would be a large enough counterweight to any such movement and the addition of Korea, Taiwan, Philippines, Vietnam, Indonesia and Australia into the scale makes China appear what it is, a paranoid, rapacious, hypernationalistic third-world bully surrounded by more advanced and wealthier societies backed by the US Navy and its buddies.
China is in a box.
I actually became enthralled with a cultural misunderstaninding between Japan and the US. During WWII winston churchill started giving the V sign. It caught on and pretty soon the word was flooded with people giving the V sign. Japanese got heavy into photography after wwii and kept seeing images of people giving the V sign without knowing what it meant. So they started doing it in photographs alot.
During the vietnam war the V sign was hijacked by anti-war protesters and turned into the peace sign. The peace movement failed to reign in the war machine so it was hijacked back again by the V for vendetta.
Now the Japanese started flashing 2 V's and pretty soon started flashing 2 v's over their head making bunny ears. Then it turned into full hand sign open and closing. This turned into the uma uma meme.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JztHcRv1OLg
So history is pretty much made out of symbols, hijacked symbols and people who have no fucking clue what is going on.
heh heh heh times two.
i give you the V sign, all the time, using my legs†
or maybe V is for VeloBabe.
Quote
US geopolitical policy as established these last sixty five years.
EndQuote
Hey, lets go attack some goatherders!!
"yesssir!! Its policy! And lets lose!!"
"Been doing this for 65 years!!"
"attacking these goatherders is really going to put those chinks in a box."
"you betcha!"
You think some of those Japanese smoke flares might be on ebay?
http://cgi.ebay.com/FLARE-SIGNAL-PEN-GUN-SURVIVAL-GYROJET-LAUNCHER-1-6-MINI-/380272300857?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5889fed339
Problem is... here in Europe, we are not allowed to import that stuff!
I think they should attack at Nanking. That worked really well last time around.
Read s/where that AngloAmerican RacistPowersThatBe do all they can to maintain hostility and distrust between China and Japan, as those 2 countries in full cooperation will flourish and prosper to benefit all citizenry...only if their mutual distrust evaporates.
Japan and USA both suffer from a rotten, unacknowledged core of past racism, the former evident exterrnally; the latter internally.
To wit, Japan's rape of Nanking, Manchurian and other insults in China. America's promotion of Black Slavery, etc.
Those harmful acts have never been clearly acknowledged and fully dealt with...and that continued failure will always trump and disable any full healing and forsaking...of Japan-China enmities... and of American internal degradations and stresses.
21st-century Japanese and Americans can just look around and, with theirr own senses, will understand much of the failures in theirr respective histories. Then they can confront and handle themselves.
This view seems to have real workability towards resolution of what ails us...all of us.
@ anonnn
You are out of touch.
Do you know any US history?
South Carolina has a woman of Indian descent, Nikki Haley, running for governor on the Republican ticket.
South Carolina has a man of African descent, Tim Scott, running for senate on the Republican ticket.
Your efforts to foment discord are weak and unworthy of a serious discussion.
Any views on the following?...
In 1850s when U.S. Commodore Perry "opened-up" Japan to "free" trade by blasting his way into Tokyo harbor, the intimidation caused the Japanese rulers to choose a new path for their future.
They chose England as their model...a small island-nation isolated by water, whose ruling class had great wealth and power and global influence. The way seemed to lay with a commanding Navy, colonial ventures to supply material resources and manpower, uninhibited use of overwhelming force, and a strong acquisitive urge.
Positively mouthwatering. What better model was there to suit a New Japan?
I called you out on your accusations of racism in the US by citing specific examples that belie your position and you then veered into a condemnation of an event that occurred 160 years ago, while at the same time citing that event as evidence that the US did not provide a good role model for Japan.
Firstly, a lot has happened since then (WWII etc) and secondly, it has never been the obligation of any nation to serve as a role model for another. Despite the calamities of the last century and a half Japan's economic pre-eminence today is the result of their choice to emulate the West. They could change their economic and political structure and tell the US to get bent any time.
The fact that they don't is compelling evidence where their interests lie.
Japan is a modern democracy as are Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines.
Indonesia and Vietnam are moving toward the same pattern by leaps and bounds.
China is asserting itself after centuries of abuse by external powers. This is unfortunate but to be expected. However the only result is the welcoming of greater US vigilance in SE Asia by all nations in that region except China.
The hyperpower is here to stay. Whatever economic fluctuations may occur in the coming years, the US is watching and we're not going anywhere.
Why don't you brush up on current American events and quit beating the drum of Yankee go home. No one is taking you seriously.
well we did bomb the snot out of them there tough guy. made 'em surrender on an American battleship in Tokyo Bay no less! They're not Americans of course...perhaps just a little Anglo then...
Nanking. Pearl Harbor. Bataan.
Whatever it took to get victory and peace out of the jaws of that dragon, that's the way the world swings.
You ignore the precedent events.
The one-dimensional view you pose of world events is tainted with revisionism.
I can also recite Hiroshima. Vietnam. Cambodia. Can you say Auschwitz? Czechoslavakia? Poland?
The present belongs to us. What will we do with it? Genuflect to the god of apology and guilt? Or forge a world where freedom can grow behind our aegis?
America.
'Fraid I went off on you in my posting of 17:51 before I read you lower posting of 17:34 directed at the jackass I responded to with 'gobbledegook'.
I don't think your comment intended to slight America now that I read your lower posting. You are simply a partisan of our ally Japan. Good. I think you can see that I concur if you will read my other postings in this thread. Regards, Swamp Fox
Stories had it that they were eating children raw.
DOOMSDAY SURVIVAL KITS
http://williambanzai7.blogspot.com/2010/09/doomsday-survival-kits.html
I'll take two of the Bankerster Doomsday Kits, but I'll need a couple extra of those wallet-size Ronald Reagan pics, and a 1911 45 with some extra magazines please.
What's with the NRA membership card?
Kaaaaaaaaaaannnnnn!!!!!!
How can culture or race be important? I thought the world only wanted to circle jerk! oh well...
OH AND TOMORROW THE JAPS WILL TRY TO NUKE THEIR CURRENCY AGAIN!!
FAIL MOTHERFUCKERS!! FAIL!!
China the monolith is a mirage. A power yes. 300 million Chinese, some of whom are beginning to live a middle class existence. 78 million party members. A few thousand very wealthy. At the bottom, 1 billion peasants. Now, where did the 300 million earn their wealth? In two ways, the first by riding the backs of those 1 billion peasants. The second, by selling their (the peasants') labor to the west which was happy to accomodate. The labor was purchased while the American middle class was shorted. The millionaires of Shanghai have their bread buttered in California and Copenhagen. The greatest threat are the peasants who they ride like mules. Hence the propaganda campaign versus Japan. Whip up some nationalism. A distraction pure and simple. Not very refined, but it works wonders ( the Kim Jong Il playbook). Or as Hu Jintao says, the Harmonious society.
Those 78 million party members are terrified of change which in essence means giving power back to the peasants. Power economically which is necessary to increase domestic consumption also means power politically. Add 1 billion unknowns to the pot, that makes for an interesting stew.
As for Japan, I don't think anyone wants to speak Chinese with their kids and in that sense, they will remain a client state to the US for quite some time into the future.
Good analysis. Also add that China is one harvest away from civil war, experiences chronic regional factionalism, has massive poverty, overdependence on export-driven economy, desertification, rampant pollution, looming water shortage, vulnerable supply lines, third rate military, hostile world view and you have a dangerous but manageable power with a lot to lose from conflict with the US.
Japan knows which side of its sushi gets soy sauce.
very good analyisis. but those peasants are what makes china so dangerous. once whipped up they have to vent, but where? all those chinese patriotic teens and young adults volunteering to monitor web chat rooms are true believers. they may force china to go to war with someone, anyone, to vent their nationalism. grabbing hands grab all they can all for themselves after all its a competetive world may be the motto of the party but they have built a nation of angry people who want to show the world and their desire to do something, anything, is what scares me.
Kabuki theater for internal consumption. Nothing will come out of this, they both know the consequences.
+
Aye Smedley, jolly good fodder.
It's a steel cage match for the crown of King of the Mercantilists!
Like I said many times, nuke Jap already.
Gobbledegook.
if these slant eyed cockfucks throw one shot at our Japanese friends we'll kill 'em. The Japanese have been the best and only friend this country has ever had for the past 60 years. Europe: eat shit and die. We can make exception for the English and Canadians/Canadiens since "they're dogs" and "even though they eat their own shit" we still love 'em anyways! Never forget...OUR COLORS DON'T RUN. So TAKE A SHOT AT THOSE AMERICANS IN KOREA CHINAMAN.
http://www.threadless.com/product/383/The_Communist_Party
Funny. They also can't connect the arrest of 4 Japanese nationals in China with arrest of the Chinese fishing boat captain. Kan is catching hell in Japan for being a wimp. Now it comes out that the Kan administration lied about who made the decision to let the captain go. Kan, foreign minister Maehara, cabinet chief Sengoku and several others all said the Naha prosecutor's office made the decision. In fact, it the decision was made by the administration with the admittance that the justice system bows to political pressure. Kan will not last much longer.
The Japanese pm is in an impossible situation. If he humbles himself to the Chinese, offers apologies and compensation, then he is politically dead at home. He will soon be gone like the last pm who was unable to negotiate a reduction in the size of US forces on Okinawa. Japan is finding itself squeezed between Chinese and US interests with little wiggle room.
China can torpedo Japan by buying JPY and samauri bonds; the US can knife them in the back by watering down the value of the US$ faster than the yen can depreciate. Not a good scenario for the land of the rising sun.
The older I get, the more childish our so-called world leaders become. What's up wit dat?
If he neglects to do this, he will be in distress sooner than his adversary, the baker. For the baker can wait longer.
Dont think for a minute japan feels usa is reliable, especialy after clinton gave the chinese the green light by saying the two should negotiate instead of saying it would stand by japan. china is lbehaving like king kong where he breaks free and starts rampaging around new york. apparantly china did not watch the final scene of king kong for they seemed to have never learned that it does not matter how powerful you are if you have no friends who can protect you. everybody want to do business in china because they imagine they will get rich with so many consumers there. in their greed they never imagined that they were allowed in only because they would be stripped of their technology and trade secrets and never had any chance to expatriate their profits from the beginning. Now china feels it has gotten all it can and is showing its true self. here in se asia they have told us to kiss off when we complained they are destroying the mehkong river with their dams. they claim the entire china sea as their territory even though they are thousands of kilometers from their shores. The tibetans are almost finished off from their own land. and the billions of chinese peasants who are so angry will be harder and harder to control in the coming years. its not going to end well for china.
Interesting! US played the pawn which was Japan to test the Chinese will on the matter of Sovereign while Japan hoped that such a test of arresting Chinese fishing boat in Chinese claimed territory will strengthen its physical control of the disputed islands. Both committed the fatal mistake. China will not yield at all cost in matters related to Sovereign, due to the painful humiliation suffered over the past century at the hands of Drug lord ( The first known drug lord and the founder of the drug trade industry was none other than the Queen of The British), the open invasions by Barbarian Western, etc....
Now, China is using this event to send the shock and awe message to USA that China will not yield when it comes to Sovereign matters. And, guess what? China considers the currency matter is one of the sovereign matters, and, if the US dares to impair its sovereign, China will retaliate at all cost. Guess who will come down first if such an outright trade war.......GS,Citi, JPM or BOA?
Expect another showdown coming soon....a moving object meets an intractable mountain which is modern day China. Let's play.