Japan and China in Island dispute

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I changed the title because the original didn't fit:

Japanese landing turns up the heat in island dispute

Read more: www.smh.com.au/world/japanese-landing-turns-up-the-heat-in-island-dispute-20120819-24gi3.html#ixzz243JsiNl5

www.smh.com.au/world/japanese-landing-turns-up-the-heat-in-island-dispute-20120819-24gi3.html

CHINESE protesters took to the streets in several cities yesterday to protest against the landing of Japanese activists on a group of disputed islands in the East China Sea, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

More than 100 people gathered near Japan's consulate in Guangzhou, the capital of southern Guangdong province, holding China's national flag and banners, Xinhua said.

It also reported protests in Shenzhen, Shenyang, Hangzhou, Harbin and Qingdao after Japanese nationalists landed on an island at the heart of the corrosive territorial row. In Hong Kong, hundreds of pro-Beijing trade union members rallied to denounce Japan's claim to the islands, chanting ''down with Japanese militarism''.

About a dozen members of the right-wing Ganbare Nippon (''Hang In There, Japan'') group raised flags on one of the islands Japan calls Senkaku, but which are claimed by China under the name Diaoyu.

Last week, Tokyo deported pro-Beijing activists who had landed on the islands, administered by Japan but claimed by China, which had warned against acts ''harming'' its territorial sovereignty.

About 150 people, including eight MPs, arrived at the archipelago in the East China Sea about dawn yesterday in a flotilla that had sailed from far south-western Ishigaki.

A Japanese coastguard ship 100 metres from the moored vessels sounded its siren, with loudspeakers telling activists: ''Do not moor. Leave the island.''

A Tokyo politician, Eiji Kosaka, told a journalist on board one of the boats participants had to land on the islands, despite the opposition of the central government.

''We want to give a strong signal to China,'' he said.

Another participant said activists and politicians wanted to walk onto one of the islands singing Japan's national anthem and would have a meal there.

Before the voyage, Kenichi Kojima, a politician from Kanagawa, near Tokyo, said the trip was about who owned the archipelago, the waters of which are believed to harbour rich mineral resources.

''I want to show the international community that these islands are ours. It is Japan's future at stake,'' he said.

An MP, Keiko Yamatani, said most countries recognised Japan's sovereignty over the island chain, but added: ''I think this kind of expedition will help raise awareness around the world.''

Organisers said before their departure they would hold a ceremony aboard boats moored ''within touching distance'' of the shore, to remember some of those who died in World War II.

Beijing rebuked Japan over the island visit.

''China has made solemn representations to Japan, demanding that it immediately cease actions harming China's territorial sovereignty,'' the foreign ministry said in a statement.

In Japan, the government was criticised as weak by nationalist politicians for deporting the 14 Chinese activists just two days after seven of them landed on the islands.

However, after Japan's relations with South Korea became strained recently in a territorial dispute over another group of islands, the government decided it needed to avoid a two-pronged fight with its Asian neighbours.

The 14 activists, including members of a private anti-Japan group based in Hong Kong, were deported on Friday.

Tokyo's Governor, Shintaro Ishihara, denounced the government's decision. ''I have witnessed, once again, the weak-kneed diplomacy of the central government against China - or rather, the government's pitiful attitude of pandering to China's interests,'' he said at a media conference.

Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Osamu Fujimura, justified the government's stance.

''Instead of making emotional judgments, we have responded to this matter strictly and fairly based on our domestic laws,'' Mr Fujimura said.

The dispute over the islands is one of the main stumbling blocks - along with issues related to Japan's military occupation of parts of China during World War II - to smooth relations between Asia's two giant economies.

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Are these islands habitated? I Couldn't gather a concrete answer from the article, though I don't think they are.

Sounds like the Canada/US/Russia beef with some of the waterways up north.