China, Japan exchange barbs over action by warplanes in East China Sea

Reuters ^ | 5/25/2014 | Kiyoshi Takenaka and Osamu Tsukimori and Paul Carsten

[mojito]

Japan and China on Sunday accused each other's air forces of dangerous behavior over the East China Sea, with Japan saying Chinese aircraft had come within a few dozen meters of its warplanes.

Japan's defense minister accused Beijing of going "over the top" in its approach to disputed territory. China's defense ministry said Japanese planes had carried out "dangerous" actions during its joint maritime exercises with Russia.

Tensions have been running high between China and its neighbors over Beijing's assertive stance on claiming land and sea territory.

Japan's defense ministry said Chinese SU-27 fighters came as close as 50 meters (170 feet) to a Japanese OP-3C surveillance plane near disputed islets on Saturday and within 30 meters of a YS-11EB electronic intelligence aircraft.

[mojito]

China seems to be itching for a fight, and one of these times soon the shooting is going to start in earnest.

[DIRTYSECRET]

They haven’t forgotten Nanking.

[Enterprise]

Yeah, they seem to have long memories and animosities in that part of the world.

"The Mongol invasions of Japan (元寇 Genkō?) of 1274 and 1281 were major military efforts undertaken by Kublai Khan to conquer the Japanese islands after the submission of Goryeo (Korea) to vassaldom. Despite their ultimate failure, the invasion attempts are of macrohistorical importance because they set a limit on Mongol expansion and rank as nation-defining events in Japanese history."

Invasion of the Mongols

[Red Steel]

Nah, its wrong way Wong Wei in the Hainan Island incident that’s being remembered.

[Ecliptic]

All this has nothing to do with history. China has a policy of growing by taking over land at their borders. Or maybe I should say steal land at their borders.

[gaijin]

People are not really realizing something about the Senkaku problem:

If China takes even one of those contested islands, it is HIGHLY likely that in order to hold she will ALSO have to take one one of all of the Yaeyama Islands:

1. They feature 7 good airfields, one of them long enough to field the Il-76

2. They’re closer to Taiwan

3. They offer a more strategic position to impeded (US) shipping traffic trying to get close to the PRC or Taiwan

4. Japanese aircraft operating from the Yaeyamas would be only 40 or so miles away from the Senkaku Islands.

If China does not take one or all of the Yaeyama Islands, a Senkaku invasion would be short-lived and would likely play out like the Falklands.

Some strategic thinkers even think China might also try to take Okinawa if they tried to take the Senkakus.

[GeronL]

Bump

[GeronL]

Japan should give up their ludicrous claims on the Dokdo Islands and focus on the real problem here

[gaijin]

Ishigaki airport, Yaeyama Islands:

The terminal is large and this strip easily accomodates full-size commercial jets, 777, etc.

Let's look at the intra-island airline routes:

It is legally uncontested territory with 50,000 Japanese people living there, and it is very close to Taiwan and the Senkakus.

If this all remained Japanese it would forever thereafter stoke Japanese claims on their former possession of the Senkakus (which feature zero airfields and zero residents).

The little-known Yaeyama islands would probably also have to be taken by China.

[gaijin]

And HERE is a google maps link to the Satelite view of the secret Chinese airbase that was PURPOSE-BUILT to take the Senkaku Islands:

https://www.google.com/maps/place/26%C2%B056%2743.0%22N+120%C2%B004%2737.0%22E/@26.9428438,120.0828975,62m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x0

Note the cammo pattern on the airstrip, taxi-way and the meticulous effort to disguise the convex aircraft shelters, etc.

Note the shadows.

The large apron is to accomodate the surge of Il-76’s that will be required to fly the Chinese SpecOps guys over there.

Zoom out and further northeast you’ll see the base facilities, soccer field, etc.

[roadcat]

They haven’t forgotten Nanking.

Barbarism between the two goes back many centuries; that's Asian culture that westerners (in nations only a couple hundred years old) don't understand. In the invasions of Japan by Mongols and Chinese during the 1270s and 1280s, Japanese women were kidnapped, raped, and impaled or lashed to boats that attacked the main islands. Japanese have long memories too, not just the Chinese. History as written has different narratives, depending on the nationality of the writer. All that is read by schoolkids here is that the Japanese were barbaric towards the Chinese, without the opposing viewpoints. During the 1850s, the United States opened Japan to the west supposedly after "peaceful" negotiations by Commodore Perry. That's how it's taught here. Japanese islands and shorelines were shelled by Perry's guns to force the Japanese to give in to U.S. demands under force. The Japanese never forgot the lesson of using force as taught by the U.S. That's history.