Posted on 11/25/2013 8:54:46 AM PST by mojito
TOKYO — Matching China’s stern rhetoric with warnings of his own, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan vowed on Monday to defend his nation’s airspace after China declared an air defense zone over a disputed group of islands in the East China Sea.
Speaking in Parliament, Mr. Abe called China’s move an unacceptable effort to change the status quo with threats of force. He described it as a dangerous ratcheting up of tensions in the standoff over the uninhabited islands, which are administered by Japan but also claimed by China.
“We are determined to defend our country’s air and sea space,” Mr. Abe said. “The measures by the Chinese side have no validity whatsoever for Japan.”
China and Japan have been locked in an escalating war of words and nerves over the islands for more than a year. China’s declaration on Saturday that it would identify and possibly take military action against aircraft flying near the islands follows a long period of frequent dispatches of Chinese coast guard ships and aircraft to the area to challenge Japan’s control.
Mr. Abe’s effort to draw a line in the sand reflects his promises to lead his nation in standing up to China....
Japan has repeatedly signaled to China since Saturday that it has no intention of yielding control of airspace over the islands, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China. On Monday, the Japanese vice foreign minister, Akitaka Saiki, summoned China’s ambassador to Japan, Cheng Yonghua, to demand that China repeal the air defense zone, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
even though their top admirals knew it was a losing effort from the start if it wasn't a crippling blow on Dec 7
The Japanes can build overnight a nuke force the way the Saudis are contemplating it. And their missiles are much more precise. They also have a vast civil defense underground tunnel complex. They can rebuild in no time.
The Japanese have all the components they need. They have a mature space program and can easily build the missiles they need for nukes. They have more than enough fissile material to build plenty of nukes, and probably are just waiting for a go-ahead to assemble already manufactured bomb components.
The one thing they’re short of is manpower, what with an aging population that is a fraction of the size of Chinas. They make up for that with scientific expertise and a robust self-defense capability (they don’t buy antique ships from former USSR states).
I hope something happens to stop china because IMHO they are still a warlord society.
I dunno about you, but the only China I’ll side with is the RoC.
Ancient enemies, with deep, long-held animosities, and modern weapons. Never a good combination.
They defeated them a few times through history.
Kublai Khan sent an invasion force from China against the Japanese as well, twice - in 1274 and 1281.
Typhoons - the “Kamikaze” Divine Wind destroyed much of the fleets both times, and those Mongol troops that did manage to land on the islands Tsushima and Iki butchered the Japanese who lived there.
There’s certainly no love between these two, for sure... Two ancient cultures with long memories, and even longer grudges.
... but won’t it tip over?
OH BOy why I get the feeling they going call in certain Big Lizard
I bet Japan is feeling real good after watching Pres Homo abandon Israel.
........lived there two years during my military service. I will never forget the so called snake lines where hundreds of Japanese would form 5-10 abreast and arm in arm in columns hundreds of feet long and just snake back and forth across the street sweeping anybody out of their way.
Unfortunately for them, in front of this American Naval Base, there were always many times more Japanese Riot Police than demonstrators and they were fun to watch because they were so well trained and equipped.
The majority of Japanese though by far supported the US presence and indeed the US generally. We had many GOOD Japanese friends there who we stayed in touch with for decades.
Been there...
We can’t station more troops on Guam, the island is dangerously close to capsizing.
You were a dozen odd years ahead of me. I was in Sasebo at Fleet Activities Base attached to ComServGru3.
I don’t remember any violence connected to the snake lines in Sasebo. My recollections are that these young Japanese were just having fun more than anything.
We lived in Sagamihara and Yokohama, returning stateside when I was 13 years old.
My thoughts are they already have a few nukes. They have the brain power and the raw materials.
There is a book written by an Army intelligence officer right after WW2. He claims that the Japanese were closer than the Germans to developing a working nuke. (the reason we nuked them so fast) He says the lab was in Tokyo but moved to Korea out of reach of US bombers towards the end of the war.
They found evidence of a dismantled lab with traces of radiation where they thought it was. The scientist disappeared after the war and the story is they along with all the lab work was taken by the Russians. (reason why the Russian nuke program happened so quickly)
The Japanese confirmed that the scientists disappeared. They have been moot about the nuke development efforts though. The Russians never confirmed nor denied what was in the book.
Two tours at Yokota.
One of my buddies lives in Yokohama. He says relations between the Japanese and the GIs are strained now. They are even thinking about a country wide curfew like the one in place in Korea. The GIs are the ones causing problems.
Akio Morita, founder of Sony and the iconic Walkman.
He was an engineer for the Navy during the war.
His task? The Japanese effort for a NUCLEAR BOMB.
My belief is they already have a few nukes and they’re probably lookin very seriously in secret about air to air refueling etc.
I think the also need to accelerate efforts for an official carrier and more subs, which can be more heavily automated.
No secret about air to air refueling. They have been doing it for years. The have four 767 tankers in their inventory and prior to those they used to refuel off our tankers.
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