Maehara, a foreign or defense minister?

[Brotherhood]

Maehara, a foreign or defense minister? - People's Daily Online November 02, 2010

A tie-mending summit meeting between Chinese Premiere Wen Jiabao and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan was canceled shortly before it took place on Friday in Hanoi.

The seemingly recovering Sino-Japanese ties have suffered a new blow.

The one to blame is Japan's newly appointed foreign minister, Seiji Maehara.

It may be better to call Maehara a defense minister rather than a foreign minister. He has been hawkish at the East Asia Summit in Vietnam, wholesaling his strong rhetoric.

Apparently, Kan has chosen the wrong guy to represent Japan in international relations. The young and promising new-generation politician proved to be more like a political extremist than a diplomat.

Since Maehara became Japan's foreign minister in mid-September, the conflict between China and Japan has become even worse than during the first few days after the collision between the Chinese fishing boat and Japanese coastguard vessels.

If the initial conflict was only an unexpected "accident," the situation now has evolved into a major territorial dispute between the two countries.

Maehara's right-wing comments have reduced Japan's diplomatic flexibility to zero.

Two weeks ago, Maehara shocked China by describing China's response to the Diaoyu Islands dispute as "hysterical." His words were the most offensive by a Japanese government official in the past decade or two.

In just one month after he came to office he did nothing to repair the ties, but add fire to the renewed sovereignty dispute, bringing Sino-Japanese relations to its coldest point since when former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi was in power (2001-06).

Maehara has been fooling the Japanese people. He and his colleagues have been actively painting an image of an increasingly aggressive China, stoking up tension in the East China Sea.

Japan's foreign policy shows no sign of viewing China as Japan's largest partner in trade, but as a war machine, ready to attack Japan at any time.

In the face of China's rise, the Japanese government is not leading its people to compete with China on fair ground, but stirring up discomfort over China's rise and joining force with other countries to contain China.

China's rise is inevitable. Maehara knows this better than any other Japanese.

He should not try to push his country to confront this trend, which will be unbearable for Japan.

He should not try to get the United States involved, because it will only make Japan even more dependent on foreign forces.

It is time for Japan to make the right decision on the interests of its own people.

Source: Global Times

 

[ThatDamnGood]

Basically, the bureaucrats in Japan who are the real power don't want the Ozawa reforms, neither does the US. So they must engineer a side show so that the Japanese public who voted out the LDP by an 80% margin, will forget what they voted for in the first place. Hence the pissing match between S Korea and the Finance Minister and Russia, etc.

Anyway all these goes in China's favour given that the pro US elite are able to wield so much power behind the scenes. The pro China factions in Japan are quite weak as can be seen to what happen to Ozawa.

No reforms, continue on the present course, Japan continues to further decline and insolvence.

Wanna to see the another side of Japan? Look here.
Spike Japan | A look at the overlooked

If China's PR machinery is as sharp as the Russian's, they would go on now about Japan's revisioning of the terms of its surrender treaty... If Japan accepts Okinawa and Kuril as a given rather than a US gift, what about the other territories ... .

Japan now is going into the arms industry.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20101101a3.html
But instead of playing up this and other moves as sign of a possible return to a situation where Japan militarism can arise again, not a squeak. Get to work people!

 

[applesauce]

^^ yep china has a terrible PR machine, seriously hiring street cons would be better

 

[ao333]

If this is how China talks to its people in Chinese, I have lost all faith in this country.

 

[ThatDamnGood]

I suppose you think I want you to have my mobile phone number and be my facebook friend?

 

[Martian2]

Japan warns Russia against visits to disputed isles - Yahoo! News

"Japan warns Russia against visits to disputed isles
Wed Nov 3, 4:32 am ET

Reuters – Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev take pictures during his visit to Kunashiri Island, one of four …

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan warned Moscow on Wednesday against more visits to rocky islands claimed by both countries, Kyodo news agency reported, after Russia's president stopped off in one of the isles this week, sparking a diplomatic row.

"We have conveyed our position that the Northern Territories are Japanese territory. We would like them to act accordingly," Kyodo quoted Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara as telling reporters after a meeting with Tokyo's ambassador to Moscow, who returned on Wednesday after President Dmitry Medvedev's visit to the islands.

Russia said on Tuesday that Medvedev planned more trips to islands seized by the Soviet Union from Japan at the end of World War Two, deepening a serious rift with Tokyo.

Japan said it would temporarily recall its ambassador from Moscow after Medvedev this week became the first Russian leader to visit the desolate islands, known as the Southern Kuriles in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan.

The dispute has added to the pressure on Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who is grappling with a divided parliament and is already under fire for what critics say was his mishandling of a separate territorial dispute with China.

Maehara told reporters that the ambassador's return home was not a retaliatory measure and said he still hoped to meet his Russian counterpart on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in Japan next week.

"I want to have discussions in the context of building cooperative ties," he said.

(Reporting by Linda Sieg and Yoko Kubota; Editing by Daniel Magnowski)"

 

[Martian2]

Two months ago, in September, the Japanese had a row with the Koreans over the Dokdo islands.

In October, the Japanese had a dispute with China over the Daioyu islands.

It's now November and the Japanese are having a spat with Russia over the Kuril islands.

What's wrong with the Japanese? Why can't the Japanese stop provoking its neighbors? How about a Korean-Chinese-Russian alliance to put the Japanese in their place?

http://www.koreaherald.com/national/Detail.jsp?newsMLId=20100910000700

"Seoul protests Japan’s latest Dokdo claim
2010-09-10 17:22

Seoul said Friday that it would lodge a complaint against Tokyo’s latest claim to South Korea’s easternmost islets of Dokdo in its annual defense document, warning that the Japanese stance would not be helpful to bilateral relations.

Japan approved its 2010 defense white paper earlier in the day, stating, “The territorial issue of Takeshima, historically the territory of Japan, remains unresolved.” The paper has used the same language on Dokdo, located between the Korean Peninsula and Japan, since 2005, referring to the islets by their Japanese name.

First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Shin Kak-soo said his ministry will file a complaint against Tokyo.

Korean activists call on Tokyo to remove its claim to the Dokdo islets from its annual defense paper Friday in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul. (Yonhap News)

“We will issue an official statement and diplomatically lodge a complaint against the wrongful content of Japan’s defense paper,” Shin said during a meeting of the parliamentary committee for foreign affairs, trade and unification.

“We will not get caught up in Japan’s attempt to make Dokdo an internationally disputed territory. A calm response would help in strengthening our position that Dokdo is our territory.”

Shin is temporarily leading the foreign ministry, after his boss Yu Myung-hwan resigned earlier this week as the ministry was found to have given undue favors to his daughter in hiring her.

Shin also said the ministry launched an internal probe to look into its records of hiring as it faces additional allegations of irregularities.

Another ministry official said on the condition of anonymity that Seoul demands Japan’s immediate “withdrawal” of its territorial claim to Dokdo.

“We would once again like to clarify that Dokdo is clearly our territory, in terms of history, geography and international law. We will sternly respond to any attempt to infringe upon our sovereignty over Dokdo,” he said.

This is the first defense paper under the leadership of the Democratic Party of Japan, which has often stressed the importance of “forward-looking” relations with South Korea. The latest claim comes about a month after Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan apologized for his country’s annexation of Korea 100 years ago.

President Lee Myung-bak regarded the apology as “a step forward” for its acknowledgement of the forced nature of the colonization. Critics, however, noted that Japan failed to admit to the illegality of the annexation. Kan also didn’t mention the Dokdo territorial issue.

The rocky islets have long been a source of diplomatic rows between South Korea and Japan. Textbooks and government documents in Japan have frequently laid claims to Dokdo. Japanese envoys have been summoned to the foreign ministry in Seoul as South Korea lodged formal protests.

South Korea has stationed its Coast Guard on Dokdo since 1954 as a symbol of its ownership. Dokdo lies 90 kilometers east of South Korea’s Ulleung Island in the East Sea, while the closest Japanese territory of Oki Island in Shimane Prefecture is more than 160 kilometers away.

By Kim So-hyun and news reports (sophie@heraldm.com)"

 

[ThatDamnGood]

Japan has apologized for forex remarks, S.Korea says - People's Daily Online

A senior Japanese finance ministry official has apologized for his minister's pointed criticism of South Korea's currency interventions, a Seoul official said Thursday.

The Japanese official described Noda's comment as "a mistake" and said that such an event "would never happen again," the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported.

***
1. Minister didn't apologise. Ministry official did.
2. Who is bigger? A Yes Minister situation? After all, its the Ministry of Finance, Japan.

They are looking for trouble for domestic reasons. Like Ozawa said to Kan, please remember the reasons why the people voted for us.

Japan will maintain its course towards insolvency despite a 80% vote to change directions. So, this incident in actuality will work in favour for China.

Another fine example of one man one vote working wonders...

Only in China will One Man One Vote come under genuine evaluation of its effects.

 

[Martian2]

This is a very simple issue:

1) Did China discover the Daiyou islands? Yes.

2) Did Japan, through the power of the gun and imperialism, steal the Diayou islands from China circa 1895? Yes.

3) Does China want the Diayou islands back? Yes.

4) Are Pentagon hawks providing the necessary military support to enable Japan to continue its illegal occupation of the Daiyou islands? Yes.

5) Is the military technological gap closing between China and the Pentagon hawks? Yes.

6) Ergo, within a few decades, China will push the Pentagon hawks out of East Asia and reclaim its Daiyou islands.

This is inevitable. Justice will not be denied. Daiyou islands were discovered by China, belonged to China, stolen by Japan at the point of a gun, and will be recovered by China.

 

[somebozo]

Why do i have a feeling that Japan is next in line of failure after USA??

 

[cloneman]

Why do i have a feeling that Japan is next in line of failure after USA??

Japanese economy failed since 1990s.Most importantlly their politicians divided into two groups.One wants to integrate Japan back into east Asia community and rebuild its economy with the help of countries like China and S.Korea.The other one is somebody like Maehare who wants to follow the US though it seems to on a sinking boat.The signal from the Chinese side is clear:If you want to share the interest from our economy boom,then you need to go back to the east Asia and give up the anti China policy.

 

[ThatDamnGood]

Bureaucrats that control Japan are probably Freemasonry members taking and executing orders against the interest of Japan.

Japan's economy failed because the US defaulted on them with the Plaza Accords. Losses were catastrophic. The bureaucrats came up with a game plan, easy financing for the corporations. It worked but this special "medicine" like in those wuxia stories, boosted Japan's strength like crazy creating a magnificent bubble. However, there would be side effects. Japan kept eating the medicine and the side effects accumulated. Now they are DYING from the side effects. Maybe 20% of Japanese live at the poverty line. As a proxy measure, in their music industry, once music sales sold in the millions, now only 5 to low 6 figures sales are achievable.

Japan however got their "revenge" on the Yanks who destroyed the soundness economy. Their bubble spread to US. And with at came the Internet Revolution, where so many dumb ideas got funded for Japanese bubble valuations. Japan had crazy real estate valuations. US has crazy dot com valuations. Then Greenspan took the first step that would end Pax Americana. He created the real estate bubble in US. Paulsen and then Bernake were left with the last bubble to create, Treasury debt.

Japan and China links go back a long time. Yes there was Ieyasu who began the first attempt to conquer the Asian mainland. Those Japan-China "goodwill/brotherhood" members in Japan tried to stop him but failed. They aren't very political strong. Some of the member associations still carry on today. Only a few nowadays remember that Sun Yat Sen was financed and supported not just by Nanyang Chinese but by certain quarters of Japanese society. Unfortunately these Miyazaki Totens political power foundation are not strong. So there is only sporadic achievements with regards to Chinese-Japanese brotherhood in recent times.

So despite the presence of Miyazaki Totens, China cannot help Japan too much because that strength can be used against it.

The situation is like with YiQuan/Taikiken in Japan. Its Japanese founder was taught YiQuan but not everything during WWII. He was left to struggle to find out what he was not taught. Even if Kenichi Sawai would not raise his finger against China if given the choice, it cannot be guaranteed that he may not make a mistake with his students. Still even with the limited Yiquan he learnt and with his continuous efforts in filling up the gaps, he made his Taikiken school the most feared martial art school in Japan in recent times. No Japanese sensei would take on challengers at an advanced age (and win, undefeated) when he was alive with perhaps the exception of the Aikido founder whose skill were more at the shengong then wugong level.

As an aside, recently we got to witness Aikido in action with the moe oniko response. Hard to remain angry with someone who will not respond back with anger. Having said this, one should also remember that not all Japanese subscribe to the Aikido philosophy.