Taiwan, China, and other things. Recovered from the defunct TypePad platform.
Chinese unilaterally declare Japanese air-zone as their own.
If he were an honest man, Joe Hung of Taiwan's China Post would now write a column apologizing for being hoodwinked by claims of "China's Peaceful Rise".
IF he were an honest man…
UPDATE: Ha. Missed this quote from Yang Yujun of China's Ministry of War:
China "has always respected the freedom of over-flight in accordance with international law".
Sure. With exactly the same respect it affords the territory of its neighbors.
Google must have figured out I was perusing sites about rare earths after China recently cut off its supply, both to Japan and to the West. So today, AdSense intuited that I might wish to see a banner ad for this site (a Mongolian rare earth mining venture).
Give them credit: that "Checkmate China!" slogan certainly DOES attract one's attention…
The company's transport lines do that, as well. Can anyone spot which neighboring country they AVOID sending cargo through? Why, it's almost as though they anticipate China might engage in politically-motivated export interruptions, or something . . .
Bright lads. Noticing that China's notorious unreliability as a supplier represents a unique marketing opportunity — for the competition.
(Image from RareEarthExporters.com)
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1) China finds the excuse it needed to avoid signing a gas field treaty with Japan.
2) What's your's is mine: Beijing orders a Japanese coast guard ship to stop surveying — in Japan's own Exclusive Economic Zone.
3) War & rumors of war: Chinese dispatch quasi-military ship to the Senkaku islands. At the same time a Hong Kong group will charter a Taiwanese fishing vessel to also make a trip to the Japanese-owned islands. Convenient timing.
[That last story also mentions that Captain Ramboat's grandmother passed away in China during his incarceration for violating Japanese waters. Which is sure to calm the passions of Chinese jingoists.]
4) Taiwanese KMT legislator fans the flames: "“Without government support on both sides of the Strait, efforts by civilian associations of [Taiwan, China and Hong Kong] alone will not be enough and will be to no avail [for Taiwan to help seize the Senkaku Islands from Japan]."
Er, just what are the odds that that "civilian association" [Hong Kong's "Action Committee for Defending the Diaoyu Islands"] is actually a Chinese Communist Party front group? Leading everybody down the garden path to war?
Apparently, Taiwan's Chinese ultranationalist "Supreme Leader" isn't the only one who believes that Japan's Senkaku islands belong to China:
A tense maritime incident Tuesday in which two Japanese patrol vessels and a Chinese fishing boat collided near a disputed island chain triggered a diplomatic spat between the Asian giants.
[…]
The Chinese boat's bow then hit the Yonakuni's stern and also collided with another Japanese patrol boat, the Mizuki, some 40 minutes later, Kyodo reported citing the coast guard.
All the more reason for America to participate in joint exercises with ally Japan to exert sovereignty over the islands. Because contrary to the assertions made by Taiwan's China Post, Peking's Pekinese Ma Ying-jeou in Taipei simply cannot be counted on if Beijing makes a land-grab.
Joe Hung at Taiwan's China Post really outdid himself yesterday:
Japan's about to aquire nuclear weapons, Joe? Boy, sure hope the CIA's been informed!
Dr. Hung continues:
One of its unchanging fundamental policies is not to make or own nuclear weapons of mass destruction [sic]. But Japan is also a nation capable of making an instant about-face . . . [emphasis added]
Why, those sneaky Japs. On Monday, they fool us with all this pacifism-this, and non-violence-that, and then BAMMO ! Next thing you know, they're nukin' Nanking !
Now, I'll be the first to admit I don't know much about Ichiro Ozawa. On the one hand, this link suggests he favors Japan strengthening Japanese-American relations by extending military help to America for U.N.-approved missions (Afghanistan — hai, Iraq — nain). And on the other, this source predicts he'd weaken those ties, by drawing CLOSER to China.
Beats me which is right. But I'd believe EITHER of those predictions over Hung's Japan-as-Iran fantasy, any day.
David Gelernter, the computer scientist who was maimed by the Unabomber a few years back, discusses the discovery of a Trojan horse program originating from China:
Nice turn of phrase there. The Chinese government's reaction was certainly telling. Chinese officials COULD have calmly announced that **ahem** freelance hackers must be at fault, and that they'd launch an investigation to find those responsible.
Instead what the world heard was the shoe on the table. LIES, LIES, these are all LIES! Those devious CANADIAN schemers are trying to start a new COLD WAR for their own malicious purposes!
Very . . . Kremlinesque. China launches Cold War-style cyber attacks — then accuses the VICTIMS of its attacks of trying to start a Cold War.
Gelernter outlines why China's cyberwarfare was so difficult to uncover:
His conclusion?
GhostNet reminds us that the new Cold War won't be fought with the threats and weapons of the old one. Americans might have less trouble keeping in mind occupied Tibet, the war on Chinese Christianity, the imprisonment and torture of political dissidents and members of Falun Gong, the one-child-only decree and other specimens of PRC tyranny if they didn't find Asian-on-Asian violence so deucedly boring. Instead of paying attention to those issues, we simper about mutual respect and cooperation–without acknowledging the fact that China is today the world's most powerful Evil Empire. The Soviets favored large armies and nuclear arsenals, but China is our new Cold War enemy, and her favorite weapons will also be novel: financial weapons, trade weapons, cyberweapons. Welcome to Cold War II. [emphasis added]
UPDATE: Just ran across reports of Chinese cyber-warfare against India, from the Truth about China blog. More about that from the Times of India.
Between May and October of last year, the Japanese were forced to scramble their jets 13 times due to Chinese jet fighters approaching their airspace.
Within the same months this year, the Chinese have heightened tensions by having their fighters approach Japanese airspace 30 times.
Sorry, no link is available for this brief story from the Nov 10/05 edition of the Taipei Times.