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Japan threatens China over disputed islands landings
France 24 ^ | 23/04/2013 | By Solange MOUGIN

Posted on 04/23/2013 5:54:56 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed on Tuesday to "expel by force" any attempt by China to land on a disputed island chain after eight state-owned Chinese ships sailed into the territorial waters surrounding the archipelago.

Japan's prime minister Tuesday vowed to "expel by force" any Chinese landing on islands at the centre of a territorial row, after eight government vessels from China sailed into the disputed waters.

The latest clash over the islands came as 168 Japanese lawmakers visited the controversial Yasukuni war shrine in central Tokyo, seen as a potent symbol of Japan's imperialist past, riling its neighbours China and South Korea.

Tokyo summoned the Chinese ambassador to Japan on Tuesday after the eight state-owned Chinese ships sailed into its territorial waters. The flotilla is the biggest to sail into the disputed waters in a single day since Tokyo nationalised part of the archipelago in September.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed to "expel by force" any Chinese landing on the archipelago in the East China Sea.

"We would take decisive action against any attempt to enter territorial waters and to land" on the islands, Shinzo Abe told parliament in response to questions from lawmakers, adding: "We would never allow" a landing.

"It would be natural for us to expel by force if (the Chinese) were to make a landing," he said.

Chinese ships have frequently sailed around the five Tokyo-controlled islands in recent months sparking diplomatic clashes.

The Chinese maritime surveillance ships entered the 12-nautical-mile zone off the islands, which China calls Diaoyu and Japan calls the Senkaku, around 8:00 am (2300 GMT Monday), the Japan Coast Guard said in a statement.

"It is extremely deplorable and unacceptable that Chinese government ships are repeatedly entering Japanese territorial waters," Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said. Map of the disputed islands in the East China Sea

A group of Japanese nationalists said it had sent nine ships to the area around the islands, which are also claimed by Taiwan.

The islands are surrounded by rich fishing grounds and are believed to harbour vast natural resources below the seabed.

In a separate territorial row, relations between Tokyo and South Korea have also been strained by a dispute over a Seoul-controlled chain of islets in the Sea of Japan (East Sea).

Seoul on Monday shelved a proposed trip by Foreign Minister Yun Byung-Se to Tokyo in protest at the trips made over the weekend by Japanese cabinet ministers to the Yasukuni war shrine.

Beijing also protested Monday about the weekend visits to the shrine, which is seen by Japan's Asian neighbours as a symbol of its wartime aggression as it honours 2.5 million war dead, including 14 leading war criminals.

China's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters that Japan must atone for its past behaviour.

"Only by facing up to and repenting for its history of aggression can Japan create the future, and truly develop friendly and cooperative relations with its neighbours," Hua said.

But the protests did not deter more legislators visiting Yasukuni on Tuesday.

Upper house member of parliament Toshiei Mizuochi confirmed that 168 Japanese lawmakers visited the shrine on Tuesday morning -- the annual visit usually draws a far smaller number of legislators.

Suga, who is the Japanese government's top spokesman, brushed off anger over the shrine visits, saying on Tuesday it was a personal matter for lawmakers.

"A visit to the Yasukuni is the matter of beliefs, and Japan ensures freedom of faith," he said.

"Therefore, the government should not interfere with visits if they are made by cabinet members or by parliament members."

Japan's Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso and Keiji Furuya, the chief of the National Public Safety Commission, separately visited the Yasukuni shrine on Sunday.

Internal Affairs Minister Yoshitaka Shindo also visited at the weekend.

Japan's premier did not make a pilgrimage but paid for equipment made of wood and fabric, bearing his name and title, which was used to decorate an altar.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Germany; Government; Japan; Russia; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: china; germany; india; japan; russia; waronterror
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1 posted on 04/23/2013 5:54:56 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
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To: DeaconBenjamin

Yeah, right.


2 posted on 04/23/2013 6:13:53 PM PDT by ought-six ( Multiculturalism is national suicide, and political correctness is the cyanide capsule.)
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To: DeaconBenjamin; Allegra; big'ol_freeper; Lil'freeper; TrueKnightGalahad; blackie; ...

People nowadays seem to forget or they apparently never knew that during World War Two, Imperial Japan’s armed services were the al Qaeda of that era.

They though it was the greatest thing in the world to die for their Emperor. We finally found that we had to fight them to win and did so when we showed them that if they all wanted to die for their Emperor, we would accommodate them with atomic weapons.

To defeat al Qaeda and the growing world of Islamic terrorists dead set on killing all of us as a religiously necessary Jihad, we need to fight them the same way and if necessary, use nuclear weapons before they use nuclear weapons on us.

Go Japan, show Red China how the cow chews the curd— Heavens knows our current resident in the White House won’t.


3 posted on 04/23/2013 6:14:54 PM PDT by Bender2 ("I've got a twisted sense of humor, and everything amuses me." RAH Beyond this Horizon)
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To: DeaconBenjamin

What “force” does Japan have to stop the Chinese incursion?


4 posted on 04/23/2013 6:23:01 PM PDT by mohresearcher
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To: mohresearcher

“What “force” does Japan have to stop the Chinese incursion?”

The Chinese might find that it’s a lot more than a Pokemon military.


5 posted on 04/23/2013 6:28:19 PM PDT by BobL (Look up "CSCOPE" if you want to see something really scary)
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To: BobL

The Japanese have got more firepower then folks think . They don’t/can’t advertise it .


6 posted on 04/23/2013 6:37:54 PM PDT by sushiman
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To: DeaconBenjamin

China is cruising for a bloody nose with most of it neighbors.

I still say we should stop trade with it dead in it’s tracks.

We’ll see just how successful China is with no traders from around the planet.


7 posted on 04/23/2013 6:38:44 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Leftist, Progressive, Socialist, Communist, fundamentalist Islamic policies, the death of a nation.)
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To: mohresearcher
What “force” does Japan have to stop the Chinese incursion?

The second most powerful navy in the world. Please pay attention.

8 posted on 04/23/2013 6:54:06 PM PDT by Strategerist
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To: DeaconBenjamin

Something tells me now is not the time for Japan to start to practice its ancient ways.


9 posted on 04/23/2013 6:57:53 PM PDT by DickBrannigan (When did logic become reversed, and right became wrong, and wrong became right?)
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To: mohresearcher

A navy far bigger that the British have for starters. Modern fighters that they improve locally. And the ability to build anything they want, to Lexus standards, quickly.

The Chinese have a big land army, but they are relatively still new at naval warfare.


10 posted on 04/23/2013 7:04:31 PM PDT by DesertRhino (I was standing with a rifle, waiting for soviet paratroopers, but communists just ran for office.)
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To: DickBrannigan

And Japan has a strange personality that we do not always understand. Under my pendulum of love theory, the more peaceful and shrinking back a people can be,, the more violent they can also be.

Germans were the epitome of romantic thought, hiking the mountains, eidelweiss, poets and philosphers.

The Japanese are very pacifist,, but they are also motivated by honor and pride and principle (as they define it) in ways we do not always fathom. It could get weird.


11 posted on 04/23/2013 7:13:12 PM PDT by DesertRhino (I was standing with a rifle, waiting for soviet paratroopers, but communists just ran for office.)
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To: Bender2

Clarion call. Got that right.


12 posted on 04/23/2013 7:21:11 PM PDT by big'ol_freeper ("Evil is powerless if the good are unafraid" ~ Ronald Wilson Reagan)
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To: mohresearcher
What “force” does Japan have to stop the Chinese incursion?

Bigger Coast Guard, better navy and air force, closer bases to the area.

If it stays low-key they have the advantage. Only way the Chicoms have a chance is massive missile bombardment of Okinawa.

13 posted on 04/23/2013 7:31:51 PM PDT by Oztrich Boy (RIP Chrissie Amphlett.)
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To: mohresearcher
What “force” does Japan have to stop the Chinese incursion?

Flying Robots?


14 posted on 04/23/2013 7:36:28 PM PDT by BBell (And Now for Something Completely Different)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Berosus; bigheadfred; Bockscar; ColdOne; Convert from ECUSA; ...

Thanks DeaconBenjamin.


15 posted on 04/23/2013 7:37:31 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Romney would have been worse, if you're a dumb ass.)
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To: Bender2
People nowadays seem to forget or they apparently never knew that during World War Two, Imperial Japan’s armed services were the al Qaeda of that era.

They though it was the greatest thing in the world to die for their Emperor. We finally found that we had to fight them to win and did so when we showed them that if they all wanted to die for their Emperor, we would accommodate them with atomic weapons.

To defeat al Qaeda and the growing world of Islamic terrorists dead set on killing all of us as a religiously necessary Jihad, we need to fight them the same way and if necessary, use nuclear weapons before they use nuclear weapons on us.

Go Japan, show Red China how the cow chews the curd— Heavens knows our current resident in the White House won’t.

We had lost 100K GI's fighting the Japanese, along with 300K fighting the Axis powers in Europe. I think it was clear that we had sacrificed enough men to merit trying bigger weapons. It was also pretty clear that Hitler and Hirohito were the commanders-in-chief of the major Axis powers. With al Qaeda, a lot of the sponsorship comes from princelings or rich Muslims who are looking to replace the current rulers. So it would be kind of difficult to justify incinerating a Muslim city just to get at some conspirator trying to enthrone himself at the expense of the current royals.

16 posted on 04/23/2013 7:39:21 PM PDT by Zhang Fei (Let us pray that peace be now restored to the world and that God will preserve it always.)
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To: mohresearcher
What “force” does Japan have to stop the Chinese incursion?

You won't be saying that when my man Gamera comes to dance, nossireebub!

17 posted on 04/23/2013 7:39:58 PM PDT by Billthedrill
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To: DeaconBenjamin
1)Japan has never fessed up for their wartime past the way the West Germans had to (the East Germans, being Commies, were automatically forgiven, despite having their own ex-Nazis working for them).

2)It's easy to forget by looking at our own Left how militant, nationalist, and "patriotic" Communist regimes can be. I sometimes wonder if flower-throwing pacifist hippies and North Korea really do share the same ideology. I'm sure even in a Communist America (G-d forbid!) they'd disarm us and have us kowtowing to everyone. No patriotism for the "socialist motherland" for us!

3)And again, if it weren't for Harry Truman's State Department China would have been a friendly power all these years. Great job, Marshall and Acheson! [/sarcasm]

18 posted on 04/23/2013 7:47:16 PM PDT by Zionist Conspirator (Ki-hagoy vehamamlakhah 'asher lo'-ya`avdukh yove'du; vehagoyim charov yecheravu!)
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To: DeaconBenjamin
If Japan's gonna go head-to-head with China I think that economic warfare would be more effective than military.Bar Chinese goods from Japanese shores.THAT will get the attention of the Butchers of Bejing.
19 posted on 04/23/2013 8:24:07 PM PDT by Gay State Conservative (Leno Was Right,They *Are* Undocumented Democrats!)
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To: Gay State Conservative

Japan has huge investments in China. That would go over like a lead balloon.


20 posted on 04/23/2013 8:54:11 PM PDT by DeaconBenjamin (A trillion here, a trillion there, soon you're NOT talking real money)
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