Senkaku/Diaoyu/Tiaoyutai/Pinnacle Islands dispute

[Dextro]

Originally Posted by KiraYamatoFan

What I am interested in is why the military of another superpower (in this case, China) can afford to make all kinds of comments that each could underlie some form of threat, but officials from the Pentagon can't say what needs to be told in response. Why is that difference between US and Chinese military necessary although civilians still have the reigns of power in both countries until further notice?

Because the US has a government that has to deal with public opinion and regular people don't usually like to be the bad guys. Freedom of speech coupled with democracy tends to force government officials to think of the ramifications of what they say.

[SaintessHeart]

Originally Posted by Dextro

Because the US has a government that has to deal with public opinion and regular people don't usually like to be the bad guys. Freedom of speech coupled with democracy tends to force government officials to think of the ramifications of what they say.

What amazes me is that the Pentagon handled it pretty well, with the occasional disaster like Watergate, Iran-Contra, My-Lai, Snowden, etc.

China on the other hand, doesn't have "public opinion" to worry about. Just keyboard warriors.

[Fireminer]

Tell me, Who has the first historical-worth document that prove they are the first to explore and settle on these islands?

[Ithekro]

Settle? Far as I can tell it was Japanese fishermen in the early 1900s until 1940. The only documented case of the islands being inhabited for any real length of time. Also they were privately owned by Japanese nationals (the family who ran the company with the fishermen) until the recent purchase by the governement that sparked this recent mess.

[Yu Ominae]

Originally Posted by Fireminer

Hey, did Japan's pact to America forbid them to use Mercernary or PMC?

Not really, it's in Japanese laws that any security company operating in Japanese soil can't be armed with small arms except if the said employee is a police officer or a SDF soldier.

[Yu Ominae]

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/20..._135507754.htm

Ruling related to the Spratlys after Manila won the case against them.

[Xellos-_^]

A case where China didn't even bother to show up.

the only International law that everyone obeys is "Might Makes Right." Everything else is window dressing.

[SeijiSensei]

A review of the issues involving the various islands in dispute by an Asian scholar.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...hings-to-know/

I had not heard before of the ruckus caused by the inclusion of Takeshima on the flag of the Korean athletes at the Pyeong-chang Olympics.

[SeijiSensei]

Biden assured Japanese leaders the US would observe its commitments to defend Japan under Article 5 of the Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security and, according to PM Suga, included the Senkakus in this pledge.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...814_story.html (probably paywalled)

“The President-elect underscored his deep commitment to the defense of Japan and U.S. commitments under Article 5,” Biden’s team said, referring to the two countries’ joint security treaty that commits the United States to respond to any attack on Japan.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga went further, saying that Biden gave “a commitment” that Article 5 would cover an attack on the Senkaku Islands, a chain of five rocky outcrops administered by Japan but claimed by China, which calls them Diaoyu.

Even better for Japan, Biden brought up the issue of the Senkaku Islands, Japanese officials said. That repeats an explicit commitment made by President Barack Obama in 2014.

[SeijiSensei]

China and the Philippines are engaged in a dispute over the presence of a Chinese flotilla currently parked at a reef within the Filipino "exclusive economic zone." The Foreign Secretary of the Philippines has suggested the country might invoke its mutual defense treaty with the US to drive the Chinese out.

https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/polit...ijing-tells-us

Meanwhile the US has supported its ally in public statements. Where things go from here is anyone's guess.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world...9ac_story.html