China’s dispute with Japan over Japanese-controlled islands is heating up again, with both sides accusing the other of infringing on their maritime territory.
China says the islands belong to it and refuses to recognize Japan’s claim to the uninhabited chain of islands.
Taiwan also claims the islands, which it calls the Diaoyutais (釣魚台列嶼). They are known as the Senkakus in Japanese and Diaoyu in China. Taipei has signed agreements with Japan for its fishers to access the waters around the islands.
China routinely sends coast guard vessels and planes into waters and airspace surrounding the islands to harass Japanese vessels in the area and force Japan to scramble jets in response.
On Wednesday, a Chinese Coast Guard spokesperson said that Chinese vessels had “expelled some Japanese vessels which had illegally entered the territorial waters.”
The unidentified official said that its moves were routine measures to safeguard sovereignty and maritime interests.
The Japanese Coast Guard yesterday said that Chinese vessels were inside Japanese territorial waters around the islands and have been repeatedly requested to leave and not to approach Japanese fishing boats operating in the area.
Unlike islands in the busy South China Sea, the Diaoyutais chain lying between Okinawa and Taiwan has little strategic importance.
However, China has made them part of its campaign to rally nationalism based on memories of Japan’s invasion and occupation of much of China that ended in 1945.
Meanwhile, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida were meeting in Tokyo yesterday for talks underscoring their shared sense of urgency to form a united front on North Korea and China with their mutual ally, the US.
Intrusions by Chinese military vessels into waters around the islands featured in wide-ranging discussions in January in Washington between Kishida and US President Joe Biden.
Those talks came as Japan is increasing defense spending dramatically and looking to build security cooperation with allies amid Chinese and North Korean military action.
The US is also bolstering alliances in the Indo-Pacific region to meet new threats, including providing Australia with nuclear-powered submarines, gaining increased access to Philippine bases and boosting defense cooperation with Taiwan.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
RSS