Japan | CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon

17/01/2013

* U.S., Japan review defense guidelines amid tension with China

We hope that this revision does not fall onto the ‘Law of Unintended Consequences‘ and exacerbates rather than alleviates the current high tensions.

Reuters: “The United States and Japan began on Thursday the revision of defense cooperation guidelines for the first time in 15 years as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe faces a territorial dispute with China and North Korea’s missile and nuclear programmes.

Shinzo Abe

The revision to the guidelines, which set rules on how Japanese and U.S. forces work together in or near Japan, comes after a hawkish Abe led his Liberal Democratic Party to power in an election last month.

“We would like to discuss Japanese Self Defence Forces‘ role and U.S. forces role with eyes on the next five, 10, 15 years and on the security environment during those periods,” a Defence Ministry official told reporters, without elaborating.

The revision is due because of drastic changes in the security environment over the past 15 years including China’s maritime expansion and North Korea’s missile development, the Japanese government has said.

North Korea has also twice tested nuclear devices.

Japan is locked in a territorial dispute with China over a group of tiny East China Sea islets called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, with both countries sending patrol ships and planes to areas near the isles.

The review started with a working-level meeting in Tokyo between U.S. and Japanese officials. It will likely take a year or more to complete and coincides with a U.S. “pivot” in diplomatic and security focus to Asia.

“One issue that’s prevalent is whether the Abe government will reinterpret the constitution to exercise the right of collective self defence,” said Nicholas Szechenyi, senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“Should that policy decision be taken, it will obviously have an impact on the way the Self Defence Forces and U.S. military coordinate.”

Japan recognizes it has what is known as the right of collective self-defence, meaning a right to defend with force allies under attack even when Japan itself is not being attacked.

But Japanese governments have traditionally interpreted the pacifist constitution as banning the actual exercise of the right, creating a sore spot in Tokyo’s security ties with Washington. Abe wants to change the interpretation to allow Japan to exercise the right.

via U.S., Japan review defense guidelines amid tension with China | Reuters.

Posted in China alert, Defence, Diplomacy, GeoPolitics, History, Military, Neighbour conflict, Politics, Territorial dispute | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Asia, Center for Strategic and International Studies, China, East China Sea, Japan, Japan Self-Defense Forces, North Korea, politics, Senkaku Islands

22/12/2012

* Japan’s Abe to send envoy to China to mend ties

Commonsense and geo-politics wins over parochial politics. Thank goodness.

Reuters: “Japan’s next Prime Minister Shinzo Abe plans to send senior ruling party member Masahiko Koumura as an envoy to China as early as next month in a bid to repair ties between Asia’s two largest economies, the Nikkei business daily said.

Shinzo Abe, Japan's incoming Prime Minister and the leader of Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), attends a meeting at the LDP headquarters in Tokyo December 21, 2012. REUTERS/Toru Hanai

Abe, a hardliner who has questioned claims by China and others that Japan’s army forced woman from occupied territories into prostitution during World War II, wants to bolster relations with his nation’s biggest neighbor after anti-Japanese protests there this year, the paper reported, without saying where it obtained the information.

Komura will carry a letter from Abe for China’s leaders, the Nikkei said. Komura is a former foreign minister who served as Abe’s defense minister during his first administration in 2007. As head of the Japan-China Friendship Paliamentarians’ Union, the lawmaker is known for his strong ties with China.

During campaigning for the general election that returned his Liberal Democratic Party to power after three years, Abe pledged to take a tough line with China in the dispute over islands in the East China Sea islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.

A Chinese boycott of Japanese cars, electronic gadgets and other products earlier this year, however, hurt Japanese companies, while violent anti-Japanese protests damaged some businesses.”

via Japan’s Abe to send envoy to China to mend ties: Nikkei | Reuters.

Posted in China alert, Economics, Politics, Territorial dispute | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Abe, China, East China Sea, Japan, Liberal Democratic Party, Masahiko Kōmura, politics, Shinzō Abe, World War II

04/12/2012

To any thinking person, regardless of nationality, the Chinese unilateral claimed territorial waters (as shown by the red dotted line) look unreasonable. Furthermore, China has, up-till-now, maintained that force should come only after negotiations have failed. Compounding that, for a country who occasionally reminds the rest of the world about unequal treaties and ‘gunboat diplomacy‘, to threaten to board other nationality ships in what is disputed waters is not learning from its own history. This new ‘sabre rattling‘ is a great shame. given the high hopes everyone has for the new national leadership. Let’s hope this is a short term aberration that will soon be corrected.

Gunboat diplomacy: Indian navy ready to set sail to South China Sea (rt.com)
Chinese ship sails in Japanese territorial waters near Senkakus (english.kyodonews.jp)
Gunboat diplomacy in the South and East China Sea – China’s strategic mistake (chinadailymail.com)

Posted in China alert, Economics, GeoPolitics, Politics, Territorial dispute | 2 Comments »

Tags: China, Chinese, East China Sea, Gunboat diplomacy, Japan, Territorial waters

29/10/2012

* Oh, what a sinking feeling: Toyota misfires with Chinese buyers

Although like other Japanese car makers, Toyota suffered recently due to the anti-Japanese protests and violence (eg burning of Japanese car showrooms), its woes are partly self-inflicted.

Reuters: “The roots of Toyota Motor Corp‘s China troubles run far deeper than the anti-Japan protests that have swept the country, stretching back to the 2008 launch of the Yaris subcompact — a spectacular flop with price-conscious Chinese buyers.

A visitor walks past a Toyota Motor Corp's car displayed behind a sign in both Chinese (L) and Japanese at the company's showroom in Tokyo in this October 18, 2012 file photo. REUTERS-Toru Hanai-Files

The car, a success elsewhere, was meant to help build brand loyalty and send Toyota hurtling towards a still-unattained goal of selling one million vehicles annually in the world’s largest auto market.

However the Yaris missed the mark with China’s traditional higher-end customers as well as its new emerging middle class.

To some company insiders and dealers it epitomizes all that does not appeal to the status-conscious, lacking what the Chinese call ‘daqi’ or ‘road presence’. Next to Nissan Motor Co Ltd’s pricier Tiida, for example, it feels small and lacks oomph.

But for frugal first-time buyers, the Yaris which is priced from 87,000 yuan ($13,900) was a non-starter, costing some 55 percent more than General Motor’s Chevy Sail and putting Toyota at a competitive disadvantage in a must-win market.

via Analysis: Oh, what a sinking feeling: Toyota misfires with Chinese buyers | Reuters.

First Test: 2012 Toyota Yaris SE (motortrend.com)

Posted in China alert, Consumer, Economics | Leave a Comment »

Tags: cars, China, Japan, japanese car makers, nissan motor co, nissan motor co ltd, Toyota, Toyota Yaris, Yaris

18/10/2012

* Feuds in the Pacific over islands: it’s not simply a case of China against everyone else

Unfortunately for China, its recent military posturing has obscured the fact that territorial claims in the South China Sea is not only between China and its neighbours but endemic.

WorldTimes: “When it comes to feuds in the Pacific over islands and what lies beneath, it’s not simply a case of China against everyone else. Depending on the dispute, it’s also South Korea vs. Japan, Japan vs. Taiwan, Taiwan vs. Vietnam, Vietnam vs. Cambodia and numerous other permutations — for many of the same reasons supposedly behind China’s actions. Resource grab. Patriotic posturing. Historical baggage (mostly to do with Japan’s brutal occupation of most of East Asia before and through World War II). Referring to the South China Sea, former ASEAN secretary general Rodolfo Severino, who now heads Singapore’s Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, wrote recently that “all claimants feel their footholds are essential to what they consider their national interests … This clash of national interests … makes it most difficult even to appear to be making compromises on national integrity or maritime regimes and, thus, almost impossible to resolve [the] disputes.””

https://chindia-alert.org/political-factors/geopolitics-chinese/
Vietnam voices concern over Japan’s Senkaku, Takeshima disputes with China and S. Korea at ASEAN maritime forum (japantimes.co.jp)
Japan Urges Peace as Neighbors Clash Over Islands (abcnews.go.com)
Indonesia Seeks Rules of Road for South China Sea (abcnews.go.com)
* China’s Xi seeks to reassure Southeast Asia on sea dispute (chindia-alert.org)
You: Senkaku row reverberates across Southeast Asia (japantimes.co.jp)
Beware the Chinese Sea-Dragon (newstatesman.com)

Posted in China alert, Diplomacy, Politics, Territorial dispute | Leave a Comment »

Tags: ASEAN, China, East Asia, Japan, politics, South China Sea, South Korea, Southeast Asia, Taiwan

29/09/2012

* China Alters Its Strategy in Dispute With Japan

As the article below (and this one – https://chindia-alert.org/2012/09/27/japanese-car-plants-in-china-whos-feeling-the-heat/) demonstrates so clearly, today no country is an island. Economic inter-dependency means that compromise and pragmatism must win the day. However, the enmity between China and Japan goes back to the late 19th Century when Japan joined the eight nations that sacked Beijing, followed by the yet-to-be admitted by the Japanese atrocities of the Sino-Japan war.

We can only hope that common sense will prevail. From afar (in the UK) one cannot see why China and its neighbours, including Japan, cannot agree to sharing the bounty of the sea and that underwater. Why should lines drawn on a map dictate that oil, gas or whatever lies beneath belong to one nation and not another? But then I was trained as an engineer and not a politician or lawyer!

NY Times: “After allowing anti-Japanese demonstrations that threatened to spin out of control, China has reined them in and turned instead to hard-edged diplomacy over disputed islands in the East China Sea to lessen any potential damage the conflict might have inflicted on the nation’s softening economy and a delicate leadership transition.

With relations between the two Asian powers at a low point, China decided to go ahead with a scaled-back reception here on Thursday night to honor the 40th anniversary of the resumption of their diplomatic ties on Sept. 29, 1972. A member of the Politburo’s Standing Committee, Jia Qinglin, attended with several other Chinese officials.

But Beijing sent a not-so-subtle message to Tokyo by not granting clearance to the plane that would have brought in an important Japanese guest, the chairman of Toyota. Other Japanese attended the event, though, and at the United Nations in New York, the two sides met in private and sparred in public.

Around the disputed islands in the East China Sea, called the Diaoyu by the Chinese and the Senkaku by the Japanese, a large flotilla of Chinese patrol boats was being monitored Friday by about half of Japan’s fleet of coast guard cutters, the Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun reported.

The protests in more than 80 cities, including in urban centers where Japanese car dealerships and electronics plants were damaged, suggested that the Chinese leadership approved the outpouring of nationalism in part as insulation against criticism of the party itself during the transition of power that formally is scheduled to take place at the 18th Communist Party Congress, now set to begin on Nov. 8. But the protests threatened to turn against the Chinese government itself, diplomats and analysts said.

Even though China has overtaken Japan as the biggest economy in Asia, Beijing’s handling of the dispute, precipitated by the Japanese government’s decision to buy three of the islands from their private Japanese owners, highlighted the interdependence of the Chinese and Japanese economies, and the limitations on what the leadership could allow.

Notions of punishing Tokyo economically for buying the islands, whose status was left unclear after World War II, are unrealistic, said Hu Shuli, editor in chief of Caixin Media and one of China’s chief economic journalists. So many Chinese workers are employed at Japanese-owned companies, she said, that any escalation of tensions leading to a boycott of Japanese goods could lead to huge job losses.

This would be disastrous in an already shaky Chinese economy, Ms. Hu wrote in the Chinese magazine Century Weekly.

At a time when overall foreign investment in China is shrinking, Japan’s investment in China rose by 16 percent last year, Ms. Hu noted. The Japan External Trade Organization reported $12.6 billion of Japanese investment in China last year, compared with $14.7 billion in the United States.

Not just China, but all of Asia, could face a serious economic downturn if Japanese investments in China were threatened, said Piao Guangji, a researcher at the China Academy of Social Science.”

via China Alters Its Strategy in Dispute With Japan – NYTimes.com.

Tags: Asia, Beijing, China, East China Sea, Government of Japan, Japan, Japan External Trade Organization

27/09/2012

* Rudd Sees More Economic Reforms in China

WSJ: “Australia’s former prime minister and longtime China watcher Kevin Rudd said Thursday that China’s incoming leadership will be strongly reform-minded on the economy and usher in a new era of diplomacy in the region.

As territorial disputes between China and Japan escalate, Mr. Rudd said Chinese leaders also face numerous challenges, including the flight of capital among the nation’s wealthy and a slowing economy. However, he expressed confidence in the ability of presumptive next leader Xi Jinping and his team to manage domestic challenges and foreign relations, calling him “the sort of leader that the Americans can do business with.”

The U.S. has sought to expand its influence in Asia to counterbalance China’s growing regional clout, announcing plans to increase its naval presence in the Pacific and sending top officials to canvass the region. Such moves have complicated relations between the two powerhouses, but Mr. Rudd—who said he spent much time with Mr. Xi when he was Australia’s prime minister—said he anticipates Mr. Xi’s rise will help alleviate such tensions.

“I believe that Xi Jinping will want to work…with the Americans on a common road map for the region’s future,” Mr. Rudd told The Wall Street Journal at the end of a two-week trip to China and Hong Kong. Mr. Xi’s ascension will allow the U.S. and China to “carve out a different period of strategic cooperation.”

Mr. Rudd said he expects further privatization of Chinese state-owned firms after the new leadership takes over, in part to address private sector companies’ concerns about their business prospects, which has led to some capital outflows. He also expects further currency liberalization and said that change is necessary, because the current growth model can’t sustain full employment in China.”

via Rudd Sees More Economic Reforms in China – WSJ.com.

Engagement, diplomacy essential to deal with China’s rise, says Rudd (theage.com.au)

Posted in China alert, Diplomacy, Economics, Politics, privatisation, Reform | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Asia, business prospects, China, domestic challenges, economic reforms in china, flight of capital, Japan, Kevin Rudd, naval presence, private sector companies, Rudd, United States, Xi JinPing

25/09/2012

* China carrier a show of force as Japan tension festers

Reuters: “China sent its first aircraft carrier into formal service on Tuesday amid a tense maritime dispute with Japan, a show of naval force that could worry its neighbors.

China’s Ministry of Defense said the newly named Liaoning aircraft carrier would “raise the overall operational strength of the Chinese navy” and help Beijing to “effectively protect national sovereignty, security and development interests”.

In fact, the aircraft carrier, refitted from a ship bought from Ukraine, will have a limited role, mostly for training and testing ahead of the possible launch of China’s first domestically built carriers after 2015, analysts say.

But China cast the formal handing over of the carrier to its navy as a triumphant show of national strength — at a time of bitter tensions with neighboring Japan over islands claimed by both sides.

Sino-Japanese relations deteriorated sharply this month after Japan bought the East China Sea islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, from their private owner, sparking anti-Japan protests across China.

“China will never tolerate any bilateral actions by Japan that harm Chinese territorial sovereignty,” Vice Foreign Minister Zhang Zhijun said on Tuesday. “Japan must banish illusions, undertake searching reflection and use concrete actions to amend its errors, returning to the consensus and understandings reached between our two countries’ leaders.”

The risks of military confrontation are scant, but political tensions between Asia’s two biggest economies could fester.

For the Chinese navy, the addition of carriers has been a priority as it builds a force capable of deploying far from the Chinese mainland.

China this month warned the United States, with President Barack Obama’s “pivot” to Asia, not to get involved in separate territorial disputes in the South China Sea between China and U.S. allies such as the Philippines.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in turn urged China and its Southeast Asian neighbors to resolve disputes “without coercion, without intimidation, without threats and certainly without the use of force”.

The timing of the carrier launch might be associated with China’s efforts to build up patriotic unity ahead of a Communist Party congress that will install a new generation of top leaders as early as next month.

Narushige Michishita, a security expert at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo, said he thought the timing had nothing to do with the islands dispute.”

via China carrier a show of force as Japan tension festers | Reuters.

Posted in China alert, Politics, Territorial dispute | 1 Comment »

Tags: Asia, Beijing, China, Japan, People's Liberation Army Navy, politics

15/09/2012

* Thousands protest against Japan’s ‘island purchase’

China Daily: “Protests against Japanese government’s move to “purchase” and “nationalize” the Diaoyu Islands continued outside the Japanese Embassy in Beijing on Friday.

Plain-clothes police officers instruct demonstrators to move during a protest outside the Japanese embassy in Beijing September 14, 2012. REUTERS-David Gray

Protesters started to gather in front of the embassy compound in the morning. By 6 pm, more than 5,000 people including wheel-chaired elderly and kids had taken part in the protests.

Police told the protesters in advance to be rational in their protests.

Also on Friday, about 100 people protested against Japan in Tengchong, a city in the southwestern province of Yunnan, while attending a public memorial for soldiers killed during the anti-Japanese war in the 1940s.

The protestors waved China’s national flags and shouted slogans including “Do not forget national humiliation, safeguard sovereignty, and Diaoyu Islands are China’s territory.”

During the anti-Japanese war, Japanese forces occupied Tengchong for two years and committed appalling crimes there.

via Thousands protest against Japan’s ‘island purchase’ |Politics |chinadaily.com.cn.

China’s defense ministry voices protest to Japan over Diaoyu Islands (chineseaffairs.wordpress.com)

Posted in China alert, GeoPolitics, Politics, Territorial dispute | Leave a Comment »

Tags: Beijing, China, Diaoyu Island, diaoyu islands, Government of Japan, Japan, national humiliation, politics, Senkaku Islands

19/07/2012

* India arrests after riot at Maruti plant leave one dead

BBC News: “At least 80 people have been arrested after violent clashes between workers and managers at a Maruti Suzuki factory near the Indian capital, Delhi.

One person died and more than 85 were injured, including two Japanese nationals, in the riot at the Manesar plant on Wednesday evening.

Maruti, India’s biggest carmaker, has halted production at the factory.

Managers and workers blame each other for starting the clashes, which follow months of troubled labour relations.

The violence at the vast factory in Haryana state is believed to have erupted after an altercation between a factory worker and a supervisor.

Workers reportedly ransacked offices and set fires at the height of the riot. A charred body was found afterwards in a damaged conference room – the identity of the person who died has not yet been established.

Dozens of staff, both management and shop-floor workers, were taken to a nearby hospital.

Security has now been tightened at the plant, which employs more than 2,000 people and produces more than 1,000 of Maruti’s top-selling cars each day, and accounts for about a third of its annual production.

Maruti Suzuki, a joint venture between Maruti and Japan’s Suzuki Motor Corporation, has a 50% share of India’s booming car market.

It has been hit by a series of strikes since June 2011, when workers went on a 13-day strike demanding the recognition of a new union.”

via BBC News – India arrests after riot at Maruti plant leave one dead.

Indian Economic tensions
Maruti Suzuki to invest Rs 4,000 cr in Gujarat car plant (news.in.msn.com)
Maruti Suzuki unveils India’s first Life Utility Vehicle – ‘Ertiga’ (bellwort.wordpress.com)
Suzuki’s stake in Maruti to go up (thehindu.com)

Posted in Economics, India alert, Labour unrest, Manufacturing, Politics, unrest | 2 Comments »

Tags: cars, Delhi, Haryana, India, Japan, Manesar, maruti india, Maruti Suzuki, Suzuki, suzuki motor corporation, top selling cars, transportation

CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon

Chindia Alert: You’ll be Living in their World Very Soon

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Posts tagged ‘Japan’

* U.S., Japan review defense guidelines amid tension with China

* Japan’s Abe to send envoy to China to mend ties

* Oh, what a sinking feeling: Toyota misfires with Chinese buyers

* Feuds in the Pacific over islands: it’s not simply a case of China against everyone else

* China Alters Its Strategy in Dispute With Japan

* Rudd Sees More Economic Reforms in China

* China carrier a show of force as Japan tension festers

* Thousands protest against Japan’s ‘island purchase’

* India arrests after riot at Maruti plant leave one dead

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