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China Creates Air Defence Zone Over Japan-Controlled Islands, Issues War Threat
cold fjord writes "France24 reports, "Beijing on Saturday announced it was setting up an 'air defence identification zone' over an area that includes islands controlled by Japan but claimed by China, in a move that could inflame the bitter territorial row. Along with the creation of the zone in the East China Sea, the defence ministry released a set of aircraft identification rules that must be followed by all planes entering the area, under penalty of intervention by the military. Aircraft are expected to provide their flight plan, clearly mark their nationality, and maintain two-way radio communication allowing them to 'respond in a timely and accurate manner to the identification inquiries' from Chinese authorities. The outline of the new zone ... covers a wide area of the East China Sea between South Korea and Taiwan that includes the Tokyo-controlled islands known as the Senkakus to Japan and Diaoyous to China. "China's armed forces will adopt defensive emergency measures to respond to aircraft that do not cooperate in the identification or refuse to follow the instructions," according to the ministry. ' The Politico adds, "Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said Saturday the United States is 'deeply concerned'" over the move. Spiegel Online has background on the conflict with Japan and on related regional issues. This announcement follows the recent publication in Chinese state media of maps showing nuclear strike plans against the U.S."
... and so it begins.
Far east Asian foreign policy is even more about playing off internal factions than it is in the West. I bet this is just a case of the Chinese making nasty noises in the hope that a) somebody will be placated, and b) Japan will know this and just play along until things die down.
The chances of nukes and bang bangs over this are very, very low. See also North Korea.
"And the meaning of words; when they cease to function; when will it start worrying you?"
We need an updated, modern, and effective nuclear arsenal.
If you don't defend your way of life, bad men will come and take it from you. Sometimes they are the bad men, and sometimes you are. History is funny that way.
I don't have any problem with nuclear weapons - they're a fact of life now. I just want ours to be the best.. and if anyone launches, it needs to be understood, completely, your entire right to exist as a nation. There can be no other peace.
Reality, sometimes, is grim stuff.
..don't panic
We've always been at war with Eastasia.
You can hold down the "B" button for continuous firing.
I want to disable those missiles during their launch phase. Or better, hack their software so they detonate immediately when ordered to launch. That is how I want the NSA to spend its money. And of course making sure they can't do the same to us.
So basically China finally had radar that is accurate enough to deliver SAMs into that air space. Now they want people who are using it to register themselves.
I am sure that there is some Internet analogy that fits here. Something about Authoritative SAM Controllers and properly registered airline assets?
"Aircraft are expected to provide their flight plan, clearly mark their nationality, and maintain two-way radio communication allowing them to 'respond in a timely and accurate manner to the identification inquiries' from Chinese authorities. "
Maybe the Chinese are upset about not having a more powerful voice over ICANN, and this is how they are expressing that frustration?
Those have to be their options, or the arrogant idiots driving this move will never quit.
As always, all IMO. Insert "I think" everywhere grammatically possible.
I guess China wrote off our debt-marker now. Can our debt drop by a couple trillion?
>stuff that matters
It's an escalation of an ongoing territorial dispute between two nations with bad enough blood between the two as it is. I'd say this falls into the 'stuff that matters' category.
China is always just about one big flood away from revolution. I wonder if they are trying to set up a distraction.
Gotta say, I am not impressed by mods, loading this comment poorly, whenever an article about China's politics comes up.
China/CCP has occupied Tibet and because of cheap consumer products and cheaper ethics, many ignore the human rights abuses, including the UN....
Wither the artists against Apartheid, that helped Free South Africa? Small chance of a boycott against China :-/
Fundamentals need to be reassessed. The UNHDR of 1948, is a excellent starting point.
China/CCP is such a switched on place, the Dalia Lama is labelled as a terrorist. Still, so was Steve Biko & Nelson Mandala.
Free Tibet Forever!
TFA is practically Chinese Government propaganda...
Someone is bucking for a promotion, or angling for some kickbacks on new radar systems...
China is a 3rd world country wholly dependent economically on the US...China's economy is only as good as the 'Full faith and credit' of the US Bond's it is based on
China's military is not a threat. Japan, the US, Korea, and Russia will all oppose anything they would do, ***and they know this***
China is a **communist country*** with **state controlled media**
China is North Korea lite...the diet coke of North Korea
Thank you Dave Raggett
It's expensive, but call their bluff and escort every craft in that airspace.
I've got better things to do tonight than die.
Now that should sound familiar. The only question is whether they will plan and execute an attack against the U.S. I don't think it's a coincidence that they are beating the drum while the U.S. President and Congress appear quite weak to outsiders.
What will be the power keg that sets off the next major conflagration? Time will tell.
It only makes the aggressor more aggressive. If you want a history lesson see Munich 1938.
I have to wonder if the Chinese are using Obama's appeasement of Iran's nuclear program as an opportunity to test the west.
What would happen (I say someone, but not completely jokingly) if the US sent in a Carrier Battle Group, claimed the uninhabited islands for ourselves and set up a base, proclaiming "if you two can't work it out, neither one of you can have them. Thanks for the gift...
Yes, I know it isn't that simple, but maybe it should be sometimes when two nations behave in such a manner.
Most of our gadgets are built in China - a good portion of those are designed in Japan. China vs. Japan seems extremely relevant to anyone who plays video games, at least... if we care about the console war, we should maybe care about an actual war.
Every country should boycott stuff made there in protest.
Oh wait...
I've got better things to do tonight than die.
...but theres nothing the US can do to stop them. Maybe prior to 2000, maybe prior to 1990, but after years of appeasements, transfers of critical technology, and currency manipulations, the Chinese have the US by the short and curlies. Nobody wants to say it, but that doesn't mean it isn't so.
The real question is, does the US draw out some long embarassing, expensive, futile detente where they ultimately lose, or (my preference) just say Fuck It, boot the UN, cut off foreign aid, stop being the world's policeman, and let the chips fall.
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
That's as good a reason as any to only buy products made by your own country. I'd consider only buying Motorola phones made in the US if they continue.
Ok, will China go to war ? I think there is no default choice here, because chinese rulers decide a bit machivellistic, and therefore they have recognized that
China cannot sustain it's own growth of population, wealth(=CO2 Emission), industrial production(=Self polution) these factors lead to social unrest and
this is the last thing the rullers want. Looking back into the past(Tienamen Square Masacre) there is a chinese solution to social unrest - use the patriots view and direct it to an outside scapegoat / enemy.
Japan is the enemy number one, also for historic reasons - japanese nationalism has done it's part in the situation we are in now (masacres, rapes, torture / WWII)
and Japan is an easy enemy because on the one hand it's military force is specialised in defending(the main islands) but what comes in handy is the blood & death bonding with the U.S.
So in reality China wants to demonstrate strength against the U.S. and Japan comes in second(Shinzo Abe - tries to alter the "National Defense Force" into a "National Offense Force" and what gives me the creeps is that Japans tendency for nationalistic thinking is very similar to the chinese view.
China is in a deadlock situation for it's ambitions as a regional superpower, from the military capacity they are. (Nukes, Missiles, Destroyers, Subs, (experimental)Carriers)
The deadlock consists of
Japan:
- Japan is under direct U.S. protectorate, if China attacks, U.S. are about to react.
- China must find out if the U.S. will react or just play the non aggression card and give up on some rocks in the boiling sea
Taiwan
- U.S. allies
- like swizerland - if someone attacks, they will secure the country by trip/tank mines and asymetric tactics, the only chance to win
for China without paying an extreme death toll would be to blast Taiwan of the earth (Nukes)
Vietnam
- they don't like China, and feel threatened by China, espicially when China held back some good for vietman during the war
Philipines
- U.S. allies
And well those deserted rocks in the boiling sea are the weakest target, but are a lithmus test for the unconditional military support for Japan to be supported by the U.S. But if China's leaders don't watch their steps closely they could really "kill everyone in China".
China has always been the agressor in this case, these islands always belonged to Japan until China recently found interest to it.
Like South Korea, this country uses agression, lies and provocation instead of politics.
There's no way this country of liars should be trusted.
You just started a fire!
When you link to Washington Times (crackpots), you undermine anything you have to say.
Sorry for the Seinfeldism but how is this high tech, geek/nerd related? This is saber rattling. Now if you had maybe a science connection like "China Air Defense System Causes Jellyfish Bloom in China Sea!" or "China Air Defense Grab Causes Large Tsunami" then I might be interested.
Then submit a better article. :)
This is just normal news. Yawn...
except for all the others.
At least with all the leaks of late, from Manning and Snowden, the fact that we have had a quick launch star wars capability (suborbital anti-ICBM laser system) for the past one and a half years remains a secret. Oops!
Since WW2, the USA has worked to hold an entire section of our planet in geopolitical SUSPENDED ANIMATION. America maintains a massive military presence in South Korea, purely to prevent Korea reuniting, and becoming the 2nd place power-house in the region (China is obviously the no1 super-power), displacing Japan from the no2 spot.
America has FORCED Japan to be a military nuclear power (yes, those Plutonium producing Japanese power plants exist to produce fuel for Japanese nuclear warheads), in order to 'persuade' Japan that its de facto dominance of the region is secure, and doesn't need further overt military action.
Japan CANNOT place nice with its neighbours in the long term. Japan will once again use whatever power its military industrial complex can provide in an attempt to assert its dominance. Meanwhile, every other nation in Japan's vicinity was the victim of unthinkable Crimes against Humanity carried out by the Japanese in WW2, without Japan ever saying "sorry", offering proper remuneration, or reforming its highly racist society. Remember, the worst Japanese war criminals were assisted by the USA to become powerful, influential figures in Japan's post-war recovery.
A united Korea will provide a narrow window for a massive, unprovoked attack by Japan. The window represents the time required for the industrialised capitalist South to exploit the nuclear expertise of the North. Japan will not wait for a re-united Korea to reach the level of military nuclear competence that will forever dissuade another Japanese attack.
Japan's time in the sun is well and truly over. Look at how Russia dealt with its nuclear disaster with an incredible energy, and world class engineering. Contrast with Japan, leaving its vastly worse nuclear disaster to irradiate the entire region total unchecked. Japan doesn't manage problems, only its people. Rather than looking for solutions, it tells the people that there really isn't a problem in the first place- Stalin style.
Every Asian nation in the region is rising, while Japan declines. In the logic of the Human Race across thousands of years of history, Japan 'NEEDS' a war. And today, as Obama's sickening terrorist attacks against the popular secular regime of Syria show, you don't even need a reasonable sounding excuse.
So why does Japan appear to 'provoke' China (a full war against China would leave the Japanese mainland islands uninhabitable for thousands of years, wiping Japan from the history books)? Because THIS is how the grand chessgame is played. Japan increasing needs to ACT like the region's No2 power, and that means appearing to be willing to 'step up' to the 'champion'. But the leaders of Japan merely want an excuse to put their nation on a war-footing, in readiness for war with Korea.
I think China made the winning move in this game. Possession is 90% of the law. Japan is too civilized to start bombing. The USA will not act to fight over those small islands and a patch of water around them. A conflict with China would be far more dangerous. The USA has no money in the bank and no weapons to win a war of that type. Japan was too slow, and they lost those islands for now to a more attentive opponent. Given that Japan has very few friends in the area, that's the end of the conflict. Do not be surprised if tomorrow China ships a small number - say, a million - of Chinese citizens to work on those islands. Within a month the islands will become a fortress.
We've been helping China. In the 1990s, we gave them Most Favored Nation (MFN) status. We did this not because their government was democratic, because we wanted to profit from trading with them. Since then, we've transferred factories there, sold companies to them, and are currently educating many of their students.
It would be wonderful if Chinese aggressiveness discouraged American companies from moving their factories to China, but I don't think that will happen.
If China wanted to bring the US to its knees, all it would have to do is embargo shipments of iPhones and iPads. Enraged Americans would burn Washington DC to the ground & lynch the elected officials who made it happen. And if that didn't do the trick, China's government could widen the iOS embargo to include our friends in Europe, at which point the EU would seize NATO's military assets and attack us with them until China lifted the embargo and allowed Apple products to flow freely into their nations again.
The United States and Japan can easily defeat China. Let's party!
an ill wind that blows no good
In reality, this is likely a shot directed inward. It's easy to unite the nation against a common enemy, and Japan is a very hated enemy by everyone in the region, be they han, korean, vietnamese, or any other ethnicity. Atrocities of WW2, and Japan's chronic inability to face them like Germany did ensure that it stays that way too.
I seriously doubt that this is anything more than that. As for "kill everyone in China", let's not be utterly retarded on the issue. China is just as much of a nuclear armed nation with ability to enforce MAD as France or UK. No one will start a shooting war with them, and they won't start a shooting war with anyone in the nuclear club either. They may indeed be testing how US reacts, as a "kill two birds with one stone" action, but it's unlikely to be anything more than that on either side. And as pointed out in the article, US is highly unlikely to get involved for another reason - the islands are claimed by its other ally in the region, ROC (Taiwan) as well, so defending them on Japan's behalf against China would cause a massive fallout there.
US will most likely stay the hell out of that three way fight and let them figure a way out on their own, at most offering diplomatic assistance and assurances that any kind of claims on currently undisputed territories would be met with force.
Sorry for the Seinfeldism but how is this high tech, geek/nerd related?
If WWIII breaks out, how will the value of my bitcoins be affected?
the topic adequacy police has spoken
we have to move on now
delete your comments and find a new topic
if the self-appoint judge disapproves again, you need to abandon that thread too
i'm sorry folks, but the topic adequacy police is in charge here, we all know that
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Tom Clancy - Threat Vector....
I think Russians had a good way of solving problems with pulverizing some rocks with nuclear devices. Once Islets are gone the problem is gone.
Considering the incompetence put on display by current US foreign policy, I wouldn't count on that conclusion to be accurate, unfortunately.
Since it relies on the Internet, you may as well forget about it. Anything electrical will be useless (Credit Cards etc.) in a 3rd World War. Only tangible items can be relied upon when that time comes, something I don't think people, especially young people; can understand.
Stuff that matters. 'Nuff said. Slashdot has never been ONLY about technology and crap.
-73, de n1ywb
www.n1ywb.com
Just figured someone was going to say it. So, insert typical butthurt, irrational Argentine comment here.
You have been watching too much Fox news. The stuff they come up with to do anything to make sure people vote republican is astounding.
Like it or not we are going to go to war with Iran if they are within weeks of having a nuclear bomb. Israel made it quite clear and Iran made it clear every us ship in the gulf will be attacked.
Iran said hey lift our sanctions and we promise we will stop. The US said no not until you stop making weapons grade uranium and plutonium. Iran said ok you have a deal if we stick to 5% which can't be used in bombs and you can have weapons inspectors to prove it. The US said ok.
That is not appeasement but a deal. Appeasement is if Obama said lets be nice to Iran and give them everything they want and maybe just maybe they will be nice guys and get rid of their weapons program if we ask nicely.
http://saveie6.com/
Alternatively we could make iPhones and iPads in the US. Might cost 10% more. Either consumers will have to pay more than Apple's already inflated prices, or Apple's cash hoard might shrink to a measly $100B.
I have a simpler solution. Japan should just sell the islands to Larry Ellison.
Actually Japan, Vietnam and east Asia as a whole may have some land disputes with China, but they ARE like China, even though that gives you creeps because of your bias and other things you don't understand. Also the implicit threat of the US nuclear power is really getting old. The US really should be a leader of more civilized behaviors instead of throwing stones from a glass house.
There is an Air Defense Identification Zone all around the U.S. as well. In addition, there's one around Washington D.C. Unfortunately, when they added that one 2003 they installed backwards. It keeps people out of Washington airspace instead of keeping the politicians penned up inside.
I don't this is because of a lack of good articles. The GP has a point: some posters have a bias they don't see or an agenda they want to hide. The US is probably the most active country in military actions and some Americans just like to blame others to try to hide that fact.
Japan has already broken the treaty requiring the US to protect them (by having a military force much larger than they are legally allowed).
Further, Japanese atrocities against Chinese citizens (citizens, NOT MILITARY) are well remembered in China.
When China and Japan start fighting, the US will sit back and watch. Likely supplying arms to both sides.
You could consider that, but the stockholders would get personally offended. They'll then split up the companies and sell the bits for scrap to maximise their profits. Nearly happened to Philips a while back.
Every experiment which ends in a big bang is a good experiment.
It is actually called "Air defense recognition zone". Even an aircraft carrier has such a zone too while moving. It is more like a surveillance zone (not applicable to the NSA though as it covers the whole world). The war threat was reportedly a response to Japanese threat to shoot down Chinese drones over disputed islands.
...is the fact that there is clearly nobody - Democrat or Republican - who is competent enough to play a serious game of brinksmanship WITHIN our government without fucking it up. I can't imagine that they're going to be any more competent with the Chinese, and the consequences here are far more serious than the US budget for the year or Obamacare.
-Styopa
Japan is enemy number one because of geography. Japan and the islands it claims are in a position to block access to the Pacific. Once China decides it wants a real blue-water navy, the lack of manouvering room in the South China Sea becomes a big problem. Submarines can transit, but they could possibly be tracked if Japan owns the islands on both sides of the channel.
I'd say their are trying to cover up a bigger issue: their continuous stomping on human rights. Isn't it too timely and obvious? lol
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2013/06/24/exiled-leader-sees-more-pressure-on-uighurs-under-xi-2/
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324595904578116623056839826
Is this the stupidest and the most ignorant Slashdot story ever?
China is claiming sea waters from southern Japan to northern Philippines, some where 1200 miles south of their southern-most point. China is fast becoming the bully in the Far East, much like, ironically, Japan itself 100 years ago. Both countries were under dictatorships, recently enjoyed massive economic growths, hence more thirst for resources. Left uncheck, China will begin another world war in the Far East.
Apartment building & iPhones dont make them '1st World'...
They are a **communist totalitarian country** with **state controlled media & markets**
Has everyone forgotten what a state controlled media means? Fox News is horrible, but it is ***NOTHING*** compared to China's news.
Here's why China is not threat: they can barely keep their country together & it's zooming to an environmental/human crisis...
1. Pollution
1.a. Human Pollution: China's disasterous 1 child policy and culture of favoring male children has resulted in a whole generation of Chinese society that is 60-40 Male-Female...it's a social crisis they talk about all the time over there
1.b. Environmental Pollution: Have you seen the fucking pictures of the smog? Dumping of industrial waste turning rivers red? Dumping of Human corpses into main rivers? Its a fucking nightmare...
Chinese people are just as awesome as any other people...it's their government and our government's relationship to it economically that causes any notion of friction
China is **not** a threat to the United States in any serious way!
Thank you Dave Raggett
those 1,000,000,000 people would be slaughtered...and the Chinese goverment would secretly be **cheering**
their population/environment is headed straight off a cliff....they **need** their male population reduced after the 1 Child Policy screwed up their whole male/female population balance
also, how the fuck do the 1,000,000,000 man "army" get here to North American continent?
no boats or planes with unfriendly intent can get anywhere near the US borders
note: none of this will ever happen b/c chinese leaders arent idiots
Thank you Dave Raggett
everything china claims today will eventually be theirs. they are smart. they lay claim and subtly march in at a snails pace by building infrastructure and economic ties. they can play the "US Game" better than anyone currently can. no one can or will stop it. the only country stupid/brave enough to try is the US. Russia and other adversaries will provide stalemate in the UN. the US would lose unless h-bombs or nukes are used in mainland china. we would defeat china in this way but the rest of the world would make it a hollow, bitter victory. i find it interesting that china recently lifted the 'one child' policy...
Say, when the resultant EMP from nuclear war knocks out the power grid. Good luck trying to cash in on BitCoins by then. I doubt too many people will be busy on Twitter and Facebook. If anything, they will be in meatspace fighting for bread crumbs and bottled water.
store them in your bitcoin safe or bury them in your bitcoin jar and hide them under your mattress?
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
"I am the law!" - Judge Dredd.
besides why rehash what's already all over the news here? If you're going to take a story that's been echoed by every major news outlet, spin it in such a way that it doesn't just say the same thing or focus on the technology aspects or "Stuff that matters."
Here's a more appropriate story-line "China/Japan dispute threatens world XBox supply! Millions of nerds cry foul as they try to learn the new PS4!"
Harrison's Postulate - "For every action there is an equal and opposite criticism"
Since the dawn of human kind, when our ancestors first discovered the killing power of rock and bone, blood has been spilled in the name of everything
Even before Humans were Humans our ancestors had already been engaging in wars.
If you read this - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titus_(gorilla) - you would understand that primates (including Homo Sapiens Sapiens) are born with the capability to kill, with or without any reason.
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
...
This is the country that ran tanks over unarmed students in a public square ...
I came from China.
In fact, I ran away from China's oppressive regime.
After reading your description the image of this - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_State_shootings - rushes back.
Yes, China _is_ under an oppressive government, but that does not mean the same can/could never happen in the United States of America.
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Saddam and Iraq were quite open about supporting terrorism
Please, do us all a BIG FAVOR, Mr. Cold Fjord.
Please cut the crap !
Saddam Hussein had done a LOT OF VERY TERRIBLE THINGS to his own people, but he NEVER support any of those "terrorists".
Saddam was in no way linked to Al Queda nor any of its splintered groups.
Saddam was in no way linked to Hezbollah nor any of its affiliates.
In fact, many of the terrorist groups, aka Islamists and/or Jihadists are being supported by Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, who, incidentally, are ALLIES of the United States of America !
I do not know who you are working for, but spreading LIES in Slashdot seems to have become your full time job.
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
As one who couldn't stand the tyranny of the CCP regime here's my take on why China is doing what it is doing ...
This is a preemptive measure designed solely for America.
It is designed so to tell America that if the United States really wants to engage China, it would be a SUPER EXPENSIVE affair.
Although it is true, as Shanghai Bill has put it, part of the reason of what is happening now, is for internal consumption (to drum up support for the CCP inside China), one has to understand that China's newest crop of leaders grew up post Mao's calamitous reign over China.
In other words, this group of leaders worldview is very different from that of Deng Xiao Ping, and they are not afraid to engage Japan head-on, along whoever dare to aid Japan, in an all-out war.
That's the exact message they are giving Uncle Sam - fuck us and you will burn.
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Ok, lets think a little higher level here. Does China want the islands? Yes. Is that why they set up this air defence zone *now*? No. China often uses political currency against Japan as a means for domestic population control. They rile up the public against Japan to draw attention away from major domestic issues, essentially changing the group dynamic. In this case there was a massive oil pipe explosion of a Sinopec pipeline which resulted in many deaths (52 now?) in Qingdao, many more injured, and the government takes no responsibility and no firings will take place. This has people FURIOUS. To quell the riots on the way they need to utilize things like the DIaoyu which drum up nationalist pride, distract the masses, and cry victim at every opportunity.
Threats of war. Remember this next time you consider buying a product made in China.
The incompetence was driven by significant economic drive, as it increased government contractor's budgets massively.
A cold war would largely result in exact opposite in long term, as many US companies would lose essentially all of their massive investments in US. In comparison, there's essentially nothing to lose and a lot to gain by same companies by going to war with Iraq, Afghanistan and so on. They had no market or production there due to sanctions, and after the war, a massive market has opened up.
When the nips activate Mecha-Tokyo! Hell by now they probably have the entire island mech-afied. We've been playin around with robots that look like bees or hummingbirds, and they have cars and buildings that turn into giant robots! Haven't you guys seen Voltron? That wasn't a kids cartoon, that was PROTOTYPE!!
If I sound stupid, it's not me talking....
China cannot sustain it's own growth of population
The current fertility rate in China is 1.58, and the continues growth is only because people are living longer.
Your whole post if full of that kind of ignorant rhetoric which paints China has some kind of militaristic threat. Actually this is just a typical territorial dispute, lots of posturing but with neither side wanting it to escalate to a shooting match. China has no interest in "testing" or attacking the US or its allies.
You don't see Chinese spy planes or drones going down over the US, do you? American spy planes and drones regularly fly over Chinese airspace though, and occasionally crash. That's what they want to stop. America acts like it can do whatever the hell it likes, but China disagrees.
const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Anything the Chinese government does is worthy of the slashdot community to bash.
China & Taiwan had zero interest in these islands or the areas around them until Japanese prospectors found natural gas deposits in the seabed nearby.
Now all of a sudden they both want them, while Japan has had small fishing villages and whatnot there for a long, long, time now (much earlier than WWII).
This is complicated, and I don't see Japan easily giving up a potential source of energy replacement for their nuclear facilities.
@Mindless Drivel: 100% of Twitter posts ever Tweeted.
The original TAAPS nuclear winter study assumed an all-out nuclear exchange on an earth with no oceans and all the topology of a billiard ball. It was more politics than science, and more detailed and logical studies found approximately weeks of of mildly colder weather.
Stop repeating debunked studies from 30 yeqars ago as though they had even the merest shred of credibility.
US will most likely stay the hell out of that three way fight and let them figure a way out on their own, at most offering diplomatic assistance and assurances that any kind of claims on currently undisputed territories would be met with force.
This is true only as long as Japan and China don't start actually shooting at each other.
The possible outcomes:
1. Japan and China decide to let this die down (possible)
2. They work something out politically.
3. There is a skirmish of some sort, plane gets shot down a fish boat sinks. (this is where things get interesting/scary)
a. Big political shit storm and something gets worked out.
b. The US sends in 1 or more carrier groups to patrol the disputed waters. ( this is the preamble to WIII, baring any last minute miracles)
The last thing that US wants to do is to start sending threatening signals to any involved. US wants to stay out of this mess. It has nothing to win, and a lot to lose by getting dragged into this ancient fight over what is essentially fishing and drilling rights in a disputed region claimed by several of its allies as well as China.
If you really think that US will get into a shooting war against China over this, I have good news for you. They won't. This is classic East Asian saber rattling where everyone in the region will extract a lot of internal good will towards governments taking "tough stance on old regional enemy", and status quo will remain. It's a bit like the current situation with the islands, where reporters from western news agencies were able to go take photos of the islands in spite of Japanese prohibition, as long as they didn't tell japanese coast guard watching them that they did it.
This is about preserving face for all parties involved. Even the dumbest, most warmongering politician in US will not want to get in the middle of that.
And America can't do Jack to prevent it. Well, it could pay them off with cash, but even that is worthless to China.
The last time China was involved in a spat over islands, it was with India. Know what happened? Global warming said, "To hell with this, pay attention to me!" The sea rose and now, no more islands... Whoops.
I would hope that any military has drawn up plans on the potential deployment of any of its weapons against any remotely potential adversary. If they're doing less than that, it's time to fire whoever's in charge.
The US staying out provokes Chinese expansion in every scenario. The occupied countries won't like that one bit (see the citizens of China who don't like living there). At that point the global economy suffers from less trading partners, and an aggressor nation is knocking on the US's doorstep.
sounds so cool!
This is an argument about a few rocks and economic right from EEZ around those islands. Let's not mix apples and tractors here.
with a country that has nuclear strike plans for our cities.
Keep buying that cheap Chinese crap and electing dirtbags that help corporations take businesses and jobs out of the US.
"This announcement follows the recent publication in Chinese state media of maps showing nuclear strike plans against the U.S."
The author links to a very deceitful Washington Times article. The WT is basically the property of the Moonies and well known for kooky viewpoints and outright lying. The "nuclear strike plans" claim is a gross distortion of a very sober discussion by an interviewer and a Chinese military expert. In the interview the expert discussed china's capability for dealing with a first strike from the u.s. Search the Global Times at http://www.globaltimes.cn/index.html if you want to know about the interview. I have twice asked the WT for a link to the article which they claim to be summarizing. No response. I sent the same request to a CT editor, who responded with the link within 24 hours. America - jingo heaven.