Interestingly, both papers also blame Japan for starting the whole mess, but neither the Chosun nor the Hani likes what they are seeing in China.
Needless to say, there is much concern that this could blow up into something really nasty.
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{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }
“Needless to say, there is much concern that this could blow up into something really nasty.”
How could you stay such a long time in Asia and still think like a graduate journalist from a second class newspaper in USA (or Korea) ?
Are you suggesting that there ISN’T a lot of concern that tensions between Japan and China won’t blow up into something major?
I think I’d like to clarify Lliane’s post:
Needless to say [don't say it then], there is much concern [who, where, how, why] that this [Japan's claims? China's answer? Korea's Kimchi? Hani's independence? Chosun's fairness?] could blow up into something really nasty [evaluative].
BTW, beautiful [evaluative] skies. I am sure [why, what?] in Bukchon looks much better [just hoping].
OK this is a blog.
Sorry.
Robert, i think Lliane was suggesting that there is no realistic way that anything will come of this dispute save some shouting and saber-rattling. To suggest otherwise is to show a lack of understanding of the nature of the conflict and its actors.
Question: are there any Koreans who support Japan in the Denkaku dispute?
*Senkaku
hamel,
Koreans have complicated opinions about Senkaku islands dispute because Chinese occupation of the island would negatively affect Korea’s Ieodo. Koreans do not trust either neighbors.
China is playing the anti-Japanese protests very passive-aggressively. When there are protests against Chinese policy, government, etc. they put them down quickly and often with an iron fist. However, when the protests are against another country they let them simmer and even come to a boil occassionally. That’s tantamount to explicit approval of the protestors’ behavior. They know exactly what they’re doing with these protests being allowed to happen.
I started having more respect for the zainichi emperor in Japan. Recent interview with an officer of Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affair, Japanese emperor said that for both Koreans and Japanese citizens he is willing to visit Korea and beg pardon for the sins (謝罪) committed by Japanese.
[Source: LINK]
@5 Exactly, since Mao’s Death internal protests in China have always been used as an internal policy tool, whether it be at the local or national level, nothing more, nothing less.
But Lliane might be underestimating the weakness of political leadership in Korea, Japan, and China and the strength of nationalism in all three countries, and if the latter begins to drive the former . . . well, good luck then if emotions cloud judgment and leaders can’t back down without losing face.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
Lliane: what I think Robert truly believes in his heart is that this won’t become “something really nasty.” He is just saying that there is a concern on the part of some that it might. I think I have known him long enough to be able to presume his positions like this, especially when he answers so passive aggressively.
HJH: do you truly truly believe this might become “something really nasty” in the short term? Have you bought your tickets out of Korea for this week? Do you know something that we don’t?
Nah, Hamel, I just worry about the rise of nationalisms in regions with territorial disputes . . .
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
China’s ability to control its angry masses is a big worry here, as it its constant and apparently willful misreading of recent developments. I generally welcome every self-inflicted comeuppance for China, but the confluence of rising regional nationalism, the blows that have been dealt to the US alliance system by Lee Myung-bak’s short-sighted opportunism, a slowing Chinese economy at a time when China’s whole growth model is under stress and a transition to ever weaker leadership in China (and some neighbors) makes this round much more potentially nastier than the earlier ones Lliane may be referencing.
Slim’s observations constitute some of what was lurking behind my remark.
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
TYPO …….is a big worry here, as IS its constant and apparently willful misreading…
I feel optimistic that China, Japan and Korea’s leaders will all realize that the alternative is worse than the status quo.
On August 31st – the Chinese took out a full page advertisement in the
New York times – calling on the U.S. government and people everywhere to condemn Japan’s provocative behavior
http://www.chinasmack.com/2012/stories/diaoyu-islands-belong-to-china-ad-in-ny-times-chinese-reactions.html
and
“From August 12 to 23, Chen Guangbiao did a survey of over a thousand ordinary Americans in cities like New York, Boston, San Francisco, etc. and found out that only 20 some of them know about the Diaoyu Islands. “I found out that the Americans don’t know about the Diaoyu Islands at all, and this firmed my determination to make the ad even more.”
It’s too late however – Japan has already purchased the island –
The Japanese government has put up 2,050,000,000 Japanese Yen, approximately 780,000,000 TWD [over $26.3 million USD], to purchase three islands from the Diaoyu Island chain (Senkaku Islands).
The Japanese government has decided to purchase the Diaoyu island chain’s Diaoyu Island, North Small Island, and South Small Island, which at present are owned by the Kurihara family of Saitama Prefecture. This afternoon, the Japanese government sent a cabinet official to sign a contract for the Kurihara family’s three islands, transferring all landownership rights, and formally nationalizing the Diaoyu Islands.
so much for China donating “disaster relief” money to Japan – look what the Japanese gov’t spent it on………
^ hahahahaha
Stupid Chicoms think America would actually take their side over Japan? Good luck!
BTW, I’d love to hear Gerry’s take on this dispute. Just for fun…or maybe to torture myself.
Would the US be near-sighted enough to be trapped into Japanese plots of having America be involved in the stupid territorial conflicts in Asia? Would the US lose their insights that they expand another war and desert the biggest market and priduction units in China because of the cunning Japanese tricks in East Asia when the US economy is suffering?
China misreads his situation even more badly than Q, if that can be imagined.
What do you expect from ruthless communists? Let them fail from their own systemic absurdity like the USSR did. Japanese leadership must have calculated how other Asian nations would react to Japanese stimulating territorial conflicts and denial of atrocities in Asia. The US should not be tricked by Japanese plot of having the US involved in the stupid territorial conflicts in Asia.
#8
Marado and the Senkaku Islands are more than 400 nautical miles apart. It cannot possibly affect the EEZ delimitation around Ieodo.
Japanese movie director Iwai Shunji twitted:
“Japan made aggression against neighboring countries and in the end defeated by the United States. In spite of this, Japan got pardoned. It is very understandable that aggressed nations are still in anger. It is Japan that is crazy that forgot about the history”
http://www.wikitree.co.kr/main/news_view.php?id=85555
my mistake –
mistake – China did NOT take out a full page advertisement…
After looking it up reporter came to know that Chen Guangbiao’s ad was published on The New York Times on August 31 on the lower half page of the 19th page of the “US News” section, and the visual effect was eye-catching. Three photographs were also published with the ad, respectively of a head portrait of Chen Guangbiao, a picture of the Diaoyu Islands, and a photo of Cheng Guangbiao’s “stunt bicycle-riding” with one leg.
HAHAHAHA- what a joke… a lower half page adv’t on the 19th page
3 photos – one of the photos of the [guy who paid for the ad] riding a bicycle with one leg in the air…
what a bit of humor for readers of the newspapers..
they will look at the photo of the Chinaman on the bike on one leg – laugh and turn the page…
Do Chinese really believe Americans are so impressed with a guy on a bike on one leg?
hahahaha…
Chinese people on the otherhand were so impressed with the adv – they called on giving more money to place more advertisements like that…
#9 martypants>
“When there are protests against Chinese policy, government, etc. they put them down quickly and often with an iron fist. However, when the protests are against another country they let them simmer and even come to a boil occassionally.” very true.
At the Diaoyu islands protest in Sheznhen: “They joined the rally, holding a banner with words: Freedom, Democracy, Human Rights and Constitutional Rule. They were discovered by undercover security police and arrested at around 1 p.m.”
http://beijingcream.com/2012/09/you-can-protest-the-diaoyu-islands-all-you-want-but-hell-no-to-democracy/
Korean newspapers. The voice of reason. What’s the freak’in world coming to?
#27
To be quite frank I’m not really sure why some people think it’s a good idea to advertise their position on NYT. I mean, China complaining about a “territorial dispute” and Japan’s “provacative behavior” seems kinda silly, especially if you’re going to do it in the U.S. (in a country where there is a significant number of cars driving around with a “Free Tibet” bumper-sticker, although doing so probably won’t help free Tibet in any way).
Not to mention that his allegory between the Senkaku/Diaoyu and Hawaii is… what should I say, dumb? Japan has never really claimed Hawaii as their territory in the past, so the comparison is moot. That, and you have to remember that Hawaii itself became part of U.S. in a not-so-straightforward manner. If he was going to compare the situation in Senkaku/Diaoyu to some place in the U.S., he should at least make a comparison that makes sense.
Veritas #30 wrote: “his allegory between the Senkaku/Diaoyu and Hawaii . . .”
I think you might mean “analogy.”
Jeffery Hodges
* * *
#31
Indeed, my bad.
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