Islands were stolen, China says at U.N.
Islands were stolen, China says at U.N.
China accused Japan of stealing the Senkaku Islands and "grossly" violating Chinese sovereignty during a verbal war that erupted at a U.N. session among senior officials from both countries.
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Thursday that by unilaterally purchasing and nationalizing three of the Japan-controlled islets earlier this month, Tokyo has posed "a grave challenge to the postwar international order."
Claiming the East China Sea isles have been part of Chinese territory since "ancient times," Yang said that "Japan stole Diaoyu Dao and its affiliated islands from China" after winning the 1894-1895 Sino-Japanese War.
He claimed that Japan "forced the then Chinese government to sign an unequal treaty to cede these islands and other Chinese territories to Japan," but after its defeat in World War II, Tokyo was obligated by international treaties to return them to China.
Japan's purchase of the three islets sent bilateral ties to their lowest point in years, touched off a firestorm of protests in China and heightened tensions in the region.
In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told a news conference that Yang's remarks were "totally groundless," and called on both sides to act calmly with each other from a broad perspective, while fostering and maintaining communication."
At the U.N. session, Yang dismissed Japan's acquisition of the islets as "totally invalid and illegal," and said that by taking such unilateral action "the Japanese government has grossly violated China's sovereignty."
"This is an outright denial of the outcomes of the victory of the war and poses a grave challenge to the postwar international order" and the U.N. Charter, he said.
"China strongly urges Japan to immediately stop all activities that violate China's territorial sovereignty, take concrete actions to correct its mistakes and return to the track of resolving the dispute through negotiation."
In a rebuttal session, Japan's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Kazuo Kodama, said the Senkakus are "clearly an inherent territory of Japan based on historical facts and international law."
Kodama alleged that China only laid claim to the Senkakus in the 1970s after U.N. studies indicated potentially lucrative gas reserves may lie around them.
China's ambassador to the United Nations, Li Baodong, then escalated the rhetoric, saying: "The recent so-called island purchase by the Japanese government is nothing different from money laundering. Its purpose is to legalize its stealing and occupation of the Chinese territory through this illegal means and to confuse international public opinion and deceive the world."
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Novelist Murakami Weighs In On Japan Territorial Rows
Even as Japan’s prickly territorial disputes gained heat in recent months few well-known figures outside of political circles have taken a stand on the touchy issue that has sparked trouble across business, sports and cultural spheres. But on Friday morning, Japan’s best-known living author joined the war of words.
Novelist Haruki Murakami penned an essay expressing his concerns about the cultural fallout that is likely to result from the country’s various escalating territorial spats and described the feverish reaction to the disputes like getting drunk on cheap sake. His commentary was prominently published for all to see on the front page of the Asahi Shimbun, Japan’s second largest daily, on Friday.
“I fear that as both an Asian and Japanese writer the steady achievements we’ve made (in deepening cultural exchanges and understanding with our Asia neighbors) will be hugely damaged because of the problems regarding Senkaku and Takeshima this time,” wrote Mr. Murakami.
The Senkaku and Takeshima islands are at the heart of Japan’s simmering bilateral tensions with China and South Korea, respectively. The Tokyo-controlled islands in the East China Sea are known as the Senkaku in Japan, but claimed by China and Taiwan, which call them the Diaoyu. Japan’s ties with Seoul have been tested in recent months over a group of islands known as Takeshima at home, the Dokdo in South Korea, and the Liancourt Rocks to countries not party to the dispute.
The removal of Japanese works in bookstores across China “shocked” the 63-year-old author. It represented how far reaching the territorial tiffs have become, threatening to tear down the regional cultural bonds that took decades to build. Mr. Murakami said it’s not his position to criticize China for suspending the sale of books written by Japanese authors “because it’s China’s domestic problem.” “But here is what I’d say loud and clear: Please don’t retaliate against China for taking such steps. If we do, it becomes our problem, and it will come back and hit you.”
Mr. Murakami, famous for his cult classics like “Kafka on the Shore” and the mammoth trilogy “1Q84”, went on to say that when it comes to national borders territorial problems are an unfortunate and unavoidable consequence. But that hot headed emotions have replaced the possibility for practical solutions.
“It’s like getting drunk on cheap sake. Drinking just a small cup of this cheap sake sends blood rushing to the head. People’s voices get louder and those actions become violent,” he wrote. “But after making a noisy fuss about it, when the dawn breaks all that will be left is a bad headache.” He advises that as politicians and pot stirrers lead the uproar it is necessary for the public to be careful.
While the anti-nuclear movement, another controversial political topic, has been bolstered by prominent voices such as Nobel laureate Kenzaburo Oe the territorial rows have been left largely untouched. Inherently linked to national pride, no one has broached the thorny issues. Mr. Murakami’s essay and its publication in a national daily - conspicuously commanding most of the front page and another inside the newspaper - is a significant step in moving the debate from the lecterns of right wing nationalists to a broader audience.
In his essay, Mr. Murakami mentioned his novel “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.” The surreal plot focuses on a bloody battle between Japanese soldiers and Mongolian and Russian forces over a barren stretch of the Outer Mongolian desert. Mr. Murakami wrote that he went to visit the site of the former warzone after he finished the novel.
“As I stood in the middle of that barren wasteland, with cartridges and other wartime artifacts still scattered about, I helplessly felt ‘why was so much life senselessly lost over this piece of empty land?’”
Mr. Murakami, who is often named as a likely future winner of the Nobel Literature Prize, has been critical of contentious issues in the past. He didn’t parse his words about Japan’s reliance on nuclear power last year. He intimated that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident was a self-inflicted blow, calling it “a mistake committed by our very own hands” during an acceptance speech in Barcelona last June. His novels also don’t shy away from Japan’s sensitive wartime activity in the first half of the century. “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” includes unsettling scenes of Japan’s occupation of Manchuria during World War II, another historical flashpoint between China and Japan.
His comments on the island disputes come just weeks before the winner of the Nobel Literature Prize is announced - an honor for which Mr. Murakami is often named as a future likely winner. This year is no different. The Japanese novelist has once again emerged as the favorite to take the prize. He has been given 5/1 odds to win by Ladbrokes, a U.K.-based bookmaker.
China accused Japan of stealing the Senkaku Islands and "grossly" violating Chinese sovereignty during a verbal war that erupted at a U.N. session among senior officials from both countries.
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi said Thursday that by unilaterally purchasing and nationalizing three of the Japan-controlled islets earlier this month, Tokyo has posed "a grave challenge to the postwar international order."
Claiming the East China Sea isles have been part of Chinese territory since "ancient times," Yang said that "Japan stole Diaoyu Dao and its affiliated islands from China" after winning the 1894-1895 Sino-Japanese War.
He claimed that Japan "forced the then Chinese government to sign an unequal treaty to cede these islands and other Chinese territories to Japan," but after its defeat in World War II, Tokyo was obligated by international treaties to return them to China.
Japan's purchase of the three islets sent bilateral ties to their lowest point in years, touched off a firestorm of protests in China and heightened tensions in the region.
In Tokyo, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told a news conference that Yang's remarks were "totally groundless," and called on both sides to act calmly with each other from a broad perspective, while fostering and maintaining communication."
At the U.N. session, Yang dismissed Japan's acquisition of the islets as "totally invalid and illegal," and said that by taking such unilateral action "the Japanese government has grossly violated China's sovereignty."
"This is an outright denial of the outcomes of the victory of the war and poses a grave challenge to the postwar international order" and the U.N. Charter, he said.
"China strongly urges Japan to immediately stop all activities that violate China's territorial sovereignty, take concrete actions to correct its mistakes and return to the track of resolving the dispute through negotiation."
In a rebuttal session, Japan's deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Kazuo Kodama, said the Senkakus are "clearly an inherent territory of Japan based on historical facts and international law."
Kodama alleged that China only laid claim to the Senkakus in the 1970s after U.N. studies indicated potentially lucrative gas reserves may lie around them.
China's ambassador to the United Nations, Li Baodong, then escalated the rhetoric, saying: "The recent so-called island purchase by the Japanese government is nothing different from money laundering. Its purpose is to legalize its stealing and occupation of the Chinese territory through this illegal means and to confuse international public opinion and deceive the world."
--
Novelist Murakami Weighs In On Japan Territorial Rows
Even as Japan’s prickly territorial disputes gained heat in recent months few well-known figures outside of political circles have taken a stand on the touchy issue that has sparked trouble across business, sports and cultural spheres. But on Friday morning, Japan’s best-known living author joined the war of words.
Novelist Haruki Murakami penned an essay expressing his concerns about the cultural fallout that is likely to result from the country’s various escalating territorial spats and described the feverish reaction to the disputes like getting drunk on cheap sake. His commentary was prominently published for all to see on the front page of the Asahi Shimbun, Japan’s second largest daily, on Friday.
“I fear that as both an Asian and Japanese writer the steady achievements we’ve made (in deepening cultural exchanges and understanding with our Asia neighbors) will be hugely damaged because of the problems regarding Senkaku and Takeshima this time,” wrote Mr. Murakami.
The Senkaku and Takeshima islands are at the heart of Japan’s simmering bilateral tensions with China and South Korea, respectively. The Tokyo-controlled islands in the East China Sea are known as the Senkaku in Japan, but claimed by China and Taiwan, which call them the Diaoyu. Japan’s ties with Seoul have been tested in recent months over a group of islands known as Takeshima at home, the Dokdo in South Korea, and the Liancourt Rocks to countries not party to the dispute.
The removal of Japanese works in bookstores across China “shocked” the 63-year-old author. It represented how far reaching the territorial tiffs have become, threatening to tear down the regional cultural bonds that took decades to build. Mr. Murakami said it’s not his position to criticize China for suspending the sale of books written by Japanese authors “because it’s China’s domestic problem.” “But here is what I’d say loud and clear: Please don’t retaliate against China for taking such steps. If we do, it becomes our problem, and it will come back and hit you.”
Mr. Murakami, famous for his cult classics like “Kafka on the Shore” and the mammoth trilogy “1Q84”, went on to say that when it comes to national borders territorial problems are an unfortunate and unavoidable consequence. But that hot headed emotions have replaced the possibility for practical solutions.
“It’s like getting drunk on cheap sake. Drinking just a small cup of this cheap sake sends blood rushing to the head. People’s voices get louder and those actions become violent,” he wrote. “But after making a noisy fuss about it, when the dawn breaks all that will be left is a bad headache.” He advises that as politicians and pot stirrers lead the uproar it is necessary for the public to be careful.
While the anti-nuclear movement, another controversial political topic, has been bolstered by prominent voices such as Nobel laureate Kenzaburo Oe the territorial rows have been left largely untouched. Inherently linked to national pride, no one has broached the thorny issues. Mr. Murakami’s essay and its publication in a national daily - conspicuously commanding most of the front page and another inside the newspaper - is a significant step in moving the debate from the lecterns of right wing nationalists to a broader audience.
In his essay, Mr. Murakami mentioned his novel “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle.” The surreal plot focuses on a bloody battle between Japanese soldiers and Mongolian and Russian forces over a barren stretch of the Outer Mongolian desert. Mr. Murakami wrote that he went to visit the site of the former warzone after he finished the novel.
“As I stood in the middle of that barren wasteland, with cartridges and other wartime artifacts still scattered about, I helplessly felt ‘why was so much life senselessly lost over this piece of empty land?’”
Mr. Murakami, who is often named as a likely future winner of the Nobel Literature Prize, has been critical of contentious issues in the past. He didn’t parse his words about Japan’s reliance on nuclear power last year. He intimated that the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident was a self-inflicted blow, calling it “a mistake committed by our very own hands” during an acceptance speech in Barcelona last June. His novels also don’t shy away from Japan’s sensitive wartime activity in the first half of the century. “The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle” includes unsettling scenes of Japan’s occupation of Manchuria during World War II, another historical flashpoint between China and Japan.
His comments on the island disputes come just weeks before the winner of the Nobel Literature Prize is announced - an honor for which Mr. Murakami is often named as a future likely winner. This year is no different. The Japanese novelist has once again emerged as the favorite to take the prize. He has been given 5/1 odds to win by Ladbrokes, a U.K.-based bookmaker.