Senkaku Islands spark territory dispute between China and Japan

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A torn apart Japanese 'Rising Sun' flag is placed on dead fish during a demonstration in front of the Japan Exchange Association over the continued diplomatic Senkaku Islands dispute between Tokyo and Beijing. (SAM YEH/AFP/Getty Images)

Senkaku Islands spark territory dispute between China and Japan
A dispute heats up between China and Japan over the Senkaku Islands, treasured for fisheries, potential oil wealth — and nationalistic importance.

TOKYO, Japan — A tiny group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea has again become a flashpoint in a longstanding territorial dispute between East Asia's two great rivals.
It isn't the first time that Japan and China have been locked into a dispute over the Senkakus, which are administered by the former but claimed by the latter.
Mercifully, the exchanges have been purely diplomatic, but officials on both sides are contending with an unexpected intrusion into the debate in the form of Tokyo's combative, and unashamedly nationalist, governor, Shintaro Ishihara.
The islands themselves are unremarkable. What interests Asia's two biggest economies most are the rich fishing grounds and potentially huge under-sea deposits of oil and natural gas.
The low-level tension that has historically steered the Senkaku dispute from one manageable crisis to the next took a more alarming turn in April when Ishihara proposed that the Tokyo government buy the islands from their private Japanese owners.
In less than a month, the plan attracted public donations totaling almost one billion yen ($13 million).
Last week, the move forced Japan's national government to raise the idea of a counter proposal, fearing that in Ishihara's hands, the islands would become the source of more friction, or even a military skirmish.
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While Japan has never inhabited the Senkakus — apparently to avoid inflaming an already delicate situation — Ishihara, who has a long history of baiting China, vowed to "protect" them from Chinese intrusion.
The islands, known as the Diaoyu in Chinese, lie 87 miles north of Japan's Ishigaki island, between Taiwan and Okinawa. They are also claimed by Taiwan.
Ishihara's surprise move forced Japan's government into a corner. Earlier this month, the prime minister, Yoshihiko Noda, announced that the central government was considering nationalizing the three main islands in the chain, drawing a furious response from Beijing.
China's foreign ministry vowed to defend what it regards as "sacred territory," while last week Chinese fishing and patrol vessels twice entered Japanese territorial waters near the islands — an intrusion Japan denounced as "extremely serious."
Last weekend, Tokyo took the unusual step of temporarily recalling its ambassador to Beijing to discuss a response.
"It is clear that the Senkaku Islands are inherently Japanese territory from a historical point of view and in terms of international law, and that they are under the effective control of Japan," Japan's chief cabinet secretary, Osamu Fujimura, told reporters in Tokyo.
China's foreign ministry spokesman, Liu Weimin, countered: "Chinese fisheries patrol boats went to the waters administered by China in accordance with Chinese law. China does not accept the representations lodged by the Japanese side."
The dispute is one of several centered on far-flung island territories with have important strategic and economic value.
Japan and Russia remain some way off resolving their competing claims to the Northern Territories, invaded by the Soviet Union in the dying days of World War II. And there is no end in sight, either, to the row between Japan and South Korea over Takeshima, an island in the Japan Sea the Koreans call Dokdo.
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China's territorial ambitions in the region extend to the Spratly islands, located in an area of the South China Sea with potentially lucrative oil deposits. Here, as in the East China Sea, fishermen are being used to test the reactions of other countries in the region.
While it fended off Japanese protests, China sent its largest ever fleet of fishing vessels to waters near the Spratly Islands, the latest round in what Vietnam and the Philippines, which also claim the islands, describe as a deliberate policy of Chinese provocation.
But Ishihara may not be the only catalyst behind the recent rise in tensions surrounding the Senkakus. China's leadership is about to undergo a rare reshuffle in the second half of this year, while in Japan, the government's majority is hanging by a thread in a deeply divided parliament.
A short bout of saber rattling over a maritime dispute would do neither government harm at a time of uncertainty at home.
The Communist Party-controlled China Post accused Noda of using the Senkaku issue to shore up his dwindling support base after the recent defection of dozens of party members over tax reform.
The paper also noted that the state purchase of the islands would seal Washington's commitment to protect them under the countries joint security treaty.
In an editorial outlining China's historical claims to the islands, it said: "All Noda wants is to ensure the American commitment to the protection of the Senkaku Islands by purchasing the land Ishihara is planning to buy and nationalizing it so that the United States may be led to change its neutral position vis-a-vis the disputed islets to recognition of Japan's ultimate sovereignty over them."
More from GlobalPost: Will Japan be the next Greece? Not if Noda can help it.
Those fractious exchanges notwithstanding, both sides will be desperate to avoid a repeat of an incident in 2010, which ended in the detention of a Chinese trawler skipper who was accused of ramming his boat into Japanese coast guard vessels.
The captain was released without charge — a fudge that enraged Japanese nationalists — but the incident cast a shadow over bilateral economic and diplomatic ties for months.
As Japan's foreign minister, Koichiro Gemba, told reporters after talks with his Chinese counterpart, Yang Jiechi, at a disastrous ministerial meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Cambodia last week: "It is important to respond calmly so that Japan-China relations overall are not affected."
Physically, the seas around the Senkakus are anything but inactive; But rhetoric aside, expect China and Japan to steer towards calmer political waters in the coming weeks.
 
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/asia-pacific/japan/120716/senkakus-islands-territory-dis

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Massive Tokyo rally decries atomic power

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Massive Tokyo rally decries atomic power
Organizers say 170,000 turned out to demand nuke-free Japan
Tens of thousands of people rallied Monday in Tokyo demanding an end to nuclear power, the latest in a series of demonstrations to erupt since the triple-meltdown disaster at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear plant.
Under scorching sunshine on a national holiday, demonstrators marched through the streets around Yoyogi Park chanting: "Don't resume nuclear power operation! Prime Minister Noda should quit!"
Organizers estimated the turnout at 170,000, which would apparently make it the biggest antinuclear rally since last year's quake and tsunami sparked the world's worst atomic disaster in a generation at the poorly protected plant.
Participants included Nobel Prize-winning author Kenzaburo Oe and famed musician and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto.
"We are angry because no progress has been made in terms of compensation and decontamination," said Noboru Shikatani, 71, who evacuated from Fukushima to Tokyo amid the disaster.
"We can't accept any resumption of nuclear power operation, as the Fukushima crisis has not been resolved," he said. "We want to bring our voice to many people by joining this kind of demonstration."
Sakamoto said: "We shouldn't put the lives of children who are the future of our country, a beautiful Japan, in potential danger just for such a thing as electricity."
Oe said: "I feel insulted by the government, which reactivated Kansai Electric Power's Oi Nuclear Power Station after the major nuclear power accident happened."
Oe and others are on a petition drive to collect 10 million signatures. As of July 8, around 7.85 million people had signed, and some have already been presented to Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura.
Monday's rally came after unit 3 at the Oi plant in Fukui Prefecture last week became the nation's first reactor to resume full operation, ending Japan's brief departure from atomic power. Kepco is now trying to fire up reactor 4.
All of the nation's commercial nuclear plants were shut down in succession after the Fukushima crisis began, kicking off a nearly two-month hiatus from atomic power and orders for all reactors to undergo stress tests.
Despite the government's tests and safety claims, antinuclear sentiment remains strong and protesters have been turning out by the tens of thousands.
A damning independent Diet report recently said the crisis at Fukushima No. 1 was a man-made disaster, marked by oversight failures, collusion between Tokyo Electric, the government and industry-promoting regulators, and a culture that blindly follows authority.
Atomic power went on hold as Japan mulled its options after the 9.0-magnitude megaquake and tsunami crippled the cooling systems at Fukushima No. 1, leading to three core meltdowns.
But in mid-June, Noda gave the green light to restart two of the units at the Oi plant to prevent summer power shortages.
For critics of atomic power, the move came too soon.
"We want to continue to stage demonstrations as antinuclear sentiment is growing among the people," said Yasunari Fujimoto, an organizer of the rally.
According to the organizers, the event drew not only activists from civic groups but also private citizens concerned about the future. The size of the crowd assembled at Yoyogi Park was unparalleled for an event there, they said.
Kumiko Kobayashi, 59, from Meguro Ward, Tokyo, brought her children and granddaughter to the protest. It was their first time.
"The first priority is to halt nuclear power plants. I want the government and the general public to adopt a normal way of thinking and realize that," she said.
Jakucho Setouchi, a 90-year-old novelist and Buddhist nun, said she is skeptical the government will comply with the people's wishes to do away with nuclear power but that it was imperative to deliver an emphatic message.
"We nonetheless need to assemble. We're taxpayers. We can and should express our opinions," she said.
Economic commentator Katsuto Uchihashi and journalist Takashi Hirose were among others who spoke at the rally, which was followed by a march.
The participants took to the streets in three groups, marching about 3 km near the park while chanting "We don't need nuclear power plants," and "Government — stop deciding without public consent."
Reflecting the size of the crowd and police attempts to cram their growing numbers into the same-old area, the sidewalks around the park were packed, leaving almost no room to move around at one point.
Separately, the weekly antinuclear rally each Friday that's routinely shunted off to the side of the prime minister's residence has been getting progressively bigger. Civic groups staging the event say the June 29 rally drew 200,000 people, but the Metropolitan Police Department put the count at around 17,000.
A large candlelight vigil surrounding the Diet building is scheduled for July 29.

AFP-Jiji, Kyodo

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US is moving too fast on Burma

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Michael Green and Daniel Twining

“The heart of our [Asia] strategy, the piece that binds all the rest of it together, is our support for democracy and human rights,” Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared last Monday. Two days later, the Obama administration lifted prohibitions on US investment in Burma. American companies are now free to partner with the state-owned energy conglomerate - the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) - whose revenue has underwritten the military regime’s repression of its people and ongoing wars against ethnic dissidents.
Why now? Burma (also known as Myanmar) is undergoing a managed political opening designed to legitimise its regime, transform its growth prospects and enlist Western partners as a hedge against China. US policy has encouraged this through graduated engagement: As Clinton said this year, Washington would pursue the “targeted easing” of US sanctions over time to retain leverage while incentivising genuine political reform. The administration did this because officials know that despite measurable progress, Burma’s political opening is fragile and reversible. The military retains firm control over parliament, stands ready to repress organised dissent and continues military campaigns against ethnic minorities. The administration also remained, as President Obama put it on Wednesday, “deeply concerned about the lack of transparency in Burma’s investment environment and the military’s role in the economy.”
Lifting elements of the investment ban is a sensible part of a US strategy to encourage Burma’s progress toward greater openness and help make life better for its long-suffering people. The human and geopolitical stakes are high for both countries. But such an approach must be premised on creating greater economic and political space outside the control of the regime - or at least improving transparency and accountability by entities controlled by the regime. And the new US policy does not do that.
Until now, the Obama administration has marched in lock step with Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel laureate, winner of Burma’s last free national election and leader of a party that won 95 per cent of open seats in recent parliamentary elections. The administration’s graduated approach to easing sanctions had chimed with her warnings not to make an all-or-nothing bet on Burma’s permanent and irreversible democratisation. That was smart policy, as she remains the most effective lever for positive change within Burma. It also ensured that there would be congressional support for engagement of Burma, something that has been difficult to achieve in the past. Aung San Suu Kyi was never opposed to easing sanctions, but she explicitly warned foreign governments against investment in state-owned energy until Burma adopted internationally accepted measures of transparency and accountability. “Other countries could help by not allowing their own companies to partner [with] MOGE unless it was signed up to such codes,” she said last month.
With its recent decision to lift broad elements of the investment ban on energy, the Obama administration has ignored this appeal, insisting only on weak reporting requirements for US companies operating in Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi, a clever politician who realises that she cannot afford to be isolated from Washington, said Thursday that the end of investment restrictions was “nothing significant” - while reiterating her call for the international community to press MOGE to adopt the International Monetary Fund’s code of conduct.
Those who advocate lifting the investment ban maintain that US companies will set higher standards on transparency and corporate social responsibility. This is true - though less clear is whether that will have an impact on non-US investors or the Burmese regime. US business and government leaders’ argument that nearly unconstrained investment in Burma’s natural resource sector will promote human rights and welfare will face scepticism from Burmese democrats who have committed their lives to this cause, and who believe it will not.
The Obama administration reportedly rushed this decision through a divided deputies committee of the National Security Council, and ignored strong opposition from key members of Congress opposed to a full-scale repeal of the investment ban, to have something ready for Clinton’s visit to the region this week. By publicly splitting with Burma’s democratic opposition on such an important issue, the administration will find that Aung San Suu Kyi no longer provides political cover for US policies. The White House will find itself held more accountable for the Burmese military’s continued violence against ethnic minorities, as well as any nuclear ties with North Korea and the Burmese people’s dashed expectations for lasting political change.
Michael Green was senior director for Asia at the National Security Council during the George W Bush administration. He is a senior adviser at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies and an associate professor at Georgetown University. Daniel Twining, a member of the secretary of state’s policy planning staff during the Bush administration, is senior fellow for Asia at the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
–Washington Post

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No. 2 N-plant 'responded better to crisis' / Report outline also hits care of patients

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Officials from local governments inspect the bottom portion of the containment vessel at the No. 4 reactor of the Fukushima No. 2 nuclear power plant on Feb. 8. Equipment for control rods and measurement tools for neutrons are hanging overhead. (Pool photo)

The initial response made by staff at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant following last year's March 11 earthquake and subsequent tsunami was inadequate compared to that by their counterparts at the nearby Fukushima No. 2 nuclear power plant, according to an outline of the final report by a government panel.
The Yomiuri Shimbun obtained the outline of the report, which is scheduled to be released July 23, by the panel charged with investigating the nuclear crisis at the No. 1 plant.
Looking into measures taken at the two plants--both operated by Tokyo Electric Power Co.--following the disaster, the final report will criticize the No. 1 plant for not taking sufficient measures compared to No. 2, which minimized the damage caused by the tsunami.
The final report is also set to refer to delays in evacuating inpatients and others from a hospital near the No. 1 plant following the outbreak of the crisis. It blames a lack of communication between the Fukushima prefectural government and the Self-Defense Forces for the deaths of several dozen patients.
Workers at the No. 1 plant manually shut down the No. 3 reactor's emergency cooling system in the early hours of March 13. Cooling of the reactor remained suspended for more than six hours because they failed to secure an alternative way to inject water.
At the No. 2 reactor, workers did not measure the pressure and temperatures in its pressure suppression pool--which is the lower portion of the reactor's containment vessel--until the early hours of March 14. This failure eventually caused the plant to be unable to lower the pressure in the reactor--a necessary step to inject water.
Meanwhile, the No. 2 plant--about 10 kilometers south of the No. 1 plant--found its sea water pumps and other equipment were damaged after it was hit by tsunami as high as nine meters.
"The No. 2 plant almost suffered the same fate as No. 1," plant chief Naohiro Masuda has recalled. Nonetheless, the plant was able to continue cooling its reactors.
The panel's investigation found that workers at the No. 2 plant confirmed they would be able to take subsequent steps before they changed how they injected water into the reactors. They also kept an eye on the pressure and temperatures of the pressure suppression pools.
One TEPCO employee working there at the time of the disaster told the panel it was "natural" for the plant to take those measures.
"The No. 1 plant's initial responses were less adequate than those by the No. 2 plant, regardless of the fact they faced different situations--such as whether external power supply was available," the final report is set to conclude. It will also call for these lessons to be reflected in reviewing measures to prevent the recurrence of a nuclear crisis.
The panel also examined the deaths of about 40 people at Futaba Hospital in Okuma, Fukushima Prefecture, following the outbreak of the crisis.
When the hospital evacuated its patients on March 14, the prefectural government's disaster response headquarters failed to secure suitable vehicles to carry bedridden people, forcing the hospital to look for different vehicles.
Moreover, the prefectural government's division for the disabled found institutions that could accept the hospital's patients, but it did not provide this information to the headquarters.
As a result, the hospital's patients were forced to travel more than 200 kilometers from Futaba.
The panel also found the SDF had insufficient communication with the prefectural government, which resulted in it being unable to coordinate with the hospital's director.
To make matters worse, the SDF failed to discover 35 patients in the hospital's annex when it conducted rescue operations on March 15. They were left behind until the early hours of March 16.
The final report is set to conclude that then Prime Minister Naoto Kan confused workers at the No. 1 plant through his intervention, while also saying it was wrong for the Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency to deny there had been meltdowns at the plant when it held press conferences during the early days of the crisis.

The Yomiuri Shimbun
(Jul. 16, 2012)

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Myanmar to open telecoms to global companies

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Overseas firms will be allowed to set up joint ventures with the government.
Myanmar plans to open its telecommunications sector to foreign investment, allowing international companies to form joint ventures with the government to build infrastructure and provide services in the nation, a senior government official said Monday.
The government will appoint a consultant in the next few months to advise on the opening of the sector and frame rules for foreign telecommunications companies operating in the country, Kyaw Soe, the principal of Telecommunications & Postal Training Centre of the Ministry of Communications, Post & Telegraphs of Myanmar, said in an interview in Singapore.
The government may allow up to three joint venture companies with foreign investment to offer telecommunications services in the country, where only 3 million people in a population of 60 million have a phone connection at present. The government aims to increase telecom density, or the percentage of the population that owns a phone, to 75% by the financial year ending March 2016, which would mean 40 million new subscribers, Mr. Kyaw Soe said.
Click here to find out more!"We want to provide greater choice to the citizens for telecom and Internet services. It should contribute to social and economic benefits of everyone," he said.
The government will insist that telecommunication infrastructure must cover rural areas, while privatization won't involve a big sell-off of government-run businesses, he said. The government will retain at least 51% ownership of any joint venture companies formed with private companies, he added.
Under Myanmar's State-Owned Economic Enterprises Law, telecommunications is primarily a state-owned enterprise and the government has the sole right to provide the service. The country is in the final stages of drafting of a new telecom law that would allow private sector participation, he said.
Myanmar is also building a nation-wide fiber-optic "backbone" to improve mobile and data services across the country. The size of the nation's fiber-optic network is now less than 1,000 kilometers, he said, but didn't give details.

By Gaurav Raghuvanshi, Dow Jones Newswires
Monday 16 July 2012

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Eight suspected drug traffickers shot dead in Chiang Rai

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BANGKOK — Thai security forces have killed seven alleged drug smugglers from Myanmar in a gunbattle near the border. It is one of the deadliest drug-related incidents reported in Thailand this year.
Police Maj. Gen. Surachet Thopunyanon says investigators had been following a drug gang for several days when members were caught crossing the border on foot Monday morning in Mae Sai district, Chiang Rai province. He says the suspects refused to stop and a shootout ensued in which seven were killed.
He says police seized 520,000 methamphetamine pills and 70 kilograms (154 pounds) of crystal meth.
Police are still hunting for other suspects who escaped the scene, about 733 kilometers (455 miles) north of Bangkok.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Investors eyeing Myanmar told to be careful

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Achara Deboonme
The Nation
Publication Date : 16-07-2012

Despite tremendous interest in Myanmar following the lifting of sanctions, investors still face many risks as the country is in the middle of reforms on many fronts, a partner at Baker and McKenzie has warned.
"Hopefully, Myanmar will follow its promises," Nicholas F Coward said in a briefing to clients in Thailand last Friday. Companies from the United States and Asia planning to enter Myanmar "will have to do so very carefully, with full due diligence procedure and ensure that all business plans are adhered to".
Coward joined the US-Asean Business Council delegation in its visit to Yangon last weekend to discuss opportunities in Myanmar. The council was representing more than 100 major US corporations, ranging from those that have been active in Southeast Asia for more than 100 years to newcomers looking to expand their presence in one of the world's most dynamic markets.
According to Coward, getting information on the investment climate was the foremost objective of this visit.
The United States had imposed sanctions on American citizens, companies and subsidiaries based in Myanmar, including those incorporated in Thailand. Earlier, subsidiaries with local management could do business with Myanmar, but parent companies were barred from facilitating that. US companies are now allowed to "facilitate" their subsidiaries through financial and non-financial means.
Coward, a partner in the international commerce department in Washington DC, came to Bangkok as soon as financial transactions and investment in Myanmar were officially relaxed last Wednesday. The restrictions were relaxed as a reward for reforms in the country so far, chiefly the release of political prisoners and dialogues held to end ethnic conflicts. The US relaxed its sanctions after the EU, Canadian and Australian governments made similar announcements.
Now that the controls are lifted, American companies and their subsidiaries can now venture into previously prohibited transactions - with one clear exception, no imports to the US are allowed. It is believed that this will help ease pressure on their Asian counterparts, as companies here were also subjected to these tough rules.
According to Coward, the General Licenses No 16 and No 17 now allow US companies and individuals to engage in financial transactions and investment in Myanmar. However, even though many new types of financial transactions are allowed, some restrictions remain in place to limit human-rights violations, corruption and military control.
For instance, those buying or leasing land in Myanmar valued at more than US$500,000 (15.8 million baht) or more than 60.5 rai in size would need to file detailed reports. These reports will have to include information on what the land will be used for, the location, a summary of legal procedures and plans for resettlement of residents; financial and material compensation; and information on voluntary resettlement.
A similar report is needed for other investments exceeding $500,000. The investors are required to ensure proper security provisions to workers and compliance with human rights regulations.
They also need to identify the nature of their business, persons in Myanmar at the point of contact, the property acquisition process, possible relocation of people as well as payments to government entities and state enterprises. "It's clear that they can't be involved with the military, 'blocked' entities or government officials," Coward said.
At present, all financial transactions are allowed, including insurance and transfers. However, any payments to Myanmar's Defence Ministry or arms groups remain prohibited. Investors are also barred from doing transactions with certain Myanmar banks. To Coward, it is still dubious as to whether a US bank can process a transaction for an individual who has an account in a prohibited Myanmar bank.
Coward also warned investors the relaxation of policies still need to be explored, especially since penalties are high. Potential civil/administrative penalties could be $250,000 per transaction, or twice the value of the transaction. Denial of export privileges is the optimum penalty, while criminal penalties could rise to $1 million and 20-year jail term.
While saying that "things taking place are more than they were originally planned", Coward expects more sanctions imposed in the mid-1980s to be removed. However, this may take time because the sanctions involve 50 laws and regulations, and some require changes in legislature. He said the requirement of the reports is to ensure that human-rights violations and corruption are minimised.
"Most US companies are now very sensitive to these issues. This is to show that it's possible to do business without paying bribery," he said, noting that this is the most extensive reporting rule ever imposed by the US.
He said human rights violations and corruption were both important, as people suffered equally from both.

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