Japan textbooks provokes territorial row with neighbours

Ownership of Dokdo is a heated issue. This billboard appeared in Los Angeles in 2010

Tokyo is set to restate its claims to a number of disputed islands, as it announces the results of its review of history, geography and other middle school textbooks on Wednesday 30th March.

The Japanese education ministry is expected to announce the results of its educational review, which it carries out every four years, and to stress Japan's sovereignty over disputed territories such as Dokdo, the Kuril Islands and Senkaku.

The expected announcement seems to have provoked the most ire in Korea, who claims Dokdo as their easternmost islets. Korean media sources have seen the move as a 'slap in the face' and proof of Japan's 'hardheaded' attitude.

Only 10 of the 23 textbooks currently in use in Japan have territorial descriptions of the East Sea islets, according to Seoul's foreign ministry, however this is set to rise. The number of textbooks claiming South Korea is 'illegally occupying' the islets is set to rise from one to four when the new textbooks are introduced next year.

The timing of the announcement is unfortunate, as South Korea has been one of Japan's biggest donors as it struggles to deal with the effects of the magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami that hit it. Seoul says that it plans to continue helping its neighbour, despite the territorial dispute.

It will, however, issue a statement of regret and call in Japanese ambassador Masatoshi Muto to lodge protests. There are also plans under consideration to renovate a heliport on Dokdo to further the South Korean claim to the area. South Korea maintains a Coast Guard unit on Dokdo as a show of its control and day trips to the otherwise uninhabited islets are common by South Koreans. The waters around Dokdo are rich in fish and natural resources.

Japanese textbooks have long been a thorny issue for the Koreans, and memories of Japan's colonial rule of Korea from 1910-1945 run deep. Yonhap says South Korea considers Japan's claims to the islands to be not a territorial issue, but a matter directly relating to Japan's colonial history and a sign that Tokyo has not fully repented for its militaristic past.

Japan's claim is based mostly on a 1905 notice that a regional Japanese government issued declaring the islets as its territory. South Korea rejects this however, arguing that in 1905 Korea was effectively a Japanese colony and therefore Japan's claims to South Korean territory were voided when Korea regained independence in 1945.

Japan's education ministry is also expected to emphasise its claims over the Kuril Islands, which it disputes with Russia and which has been the cause of considerable tension in recent months following a visit to the islands by Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev.

The Senkaku islands, called Diaoyu by the Chinese has also been the cause of tension in recent months, especially last September when a Chinese trawler was picked up by the Japanese coast guard in disputed areas.

Sources: Korea Herald, Xinhua, Chosun Ilbo, Yonhap, Korea Joohang Daily

For more information, please see the Menas Borders website, here.

China dedicated to good relations with India, despite military budget rise: spokesman

NCP spokesman Li Zhaoxing

The Chinese government is dedicated to maintaining good relations with India, despite increasing its defence budget by over 12 per cent, a top official from the Chinese parliament said on Friday 4th March.

The comments came a day before the start of the National People's Congress's (NPC) annual session, which seems likely to approve a 12.7 per cent increase in the country's defence budget, a move which has caused concern among some of China's neighbours.

Responding to questions about whether China's defence budget increase would put pressure on its neighbours, such as India, Li Zhaoxing, chairman of the NPC's Foreign Affairs Committee said that China and India have reached a consensus on maintaining the peace and tranquillity of their border areas until the border issues are solved.

Mr Li added that the increase will result in a military budget of 601 billion yuan (US$91.5 billion), which only amounts to 1.4 per cent of GDP. India's defence budget is also set to rise considerably this year, up 11.6 per cent to US$35 billion. As Mr Li pointed out, the Indian budget is higher as a proportion of GDP than China's. The US has a military budget of $725 billion.

Mr Li also said that China wanted to move forward with talks with India. “We seek to advance the negotiations … process on a settlement framework, so as to resolve the boundary question which has been created and left over by history,”

“At present, there are friendly and stable relations between China and India. This has created a good atmosphere for the two sides to resolve the boundary question through consultations,” he said.

Li said China and India had held 14 rounds of meetings since 2003 in an effort to speed up negotiations for an early solution to border issues.

"China attaches great importance to friendly relations with neighbors. ... Seeking peace, cooperation and development is a shared view of all Asian people, including the people of China and India," he said.

The Chinese government said on Friday that it was ready to take forward the negotiations with India over the long-running border dispute, and that the two countries' relationship was now stable enough for a settlement to be reached.

Many analysts believe that the declared budget is only a small proportion of what China actually spends on its military power. Many believe that the increase is a sign of China's desire to put pressure on its military competitors, both regionally and globally.

India is not the only regional power that China has territorial issues with. According to India's Economic Times, on Thursday 3rd March, Japan scrambled military jets after Chinese naval airplanes flew near disputed islands in the East China Sea, although the Chinese did not enter Japan's airspace.

The disputed islands, known in China as the Diaoyu islands and in Japan as the Senakaku islands, have long been disputed by the two sides. The capture of a Chinese boat captain in disputed waters by Japanese patrols in September 2010 drove relations to the lowest levels in years.

The South China Sea dispute has also heated up, with the Philippines demanding an explanation from China over a recent incident in which it says two Chinese patrol boats threatened to ram a survey ship.

China has taken steps to resolve many of its residual border issues. It appears that maritime disputes and issues with India will, however, be harder to solve.

Sources: Economic Times, Xinhua, Times of India, The Hindu

For more information, please see the Menas Borders website, here.

Diaoyu islands manuscript sells for US$2 million

A hand-written document believed to be of a missing part of a Chinese literary work which showed the Diaoyu Islands as being part of China, was auctioned for 13.25 million yuan (2 million U.S.dollars) in Beijing in December 2010.

The item was hand-written by Qian Meixi, a calligrapher in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). It is believed to be a copy of the fifth chapter of "The Six Chapters of a Floating Life" of Shen Fu, a writer and painter also from the Qing Dynasty.

However, the book's final two chapters, the writer's autobiographical narrative, were missing.

The document recorded Shen Fu's trip to the Diaoyu Islands and the Ryukyu Islands in 1808. It included a section saying the Diaoyu Islands were part of China. Japan, however, has said it had first discovered the islands in 1884.

The buyer, surnamed Wu, left immediately after the auction. "It was a very quick decision," he told Xinhua by telephone. "I believed this is a very valuable document and I just don't want it to fall into the hands of others, particularly foreigners."

Since the document concerns China's territorial sovereignty, the auction rejected bids from foreigners, as per legal requirements.

Peng Ling, a book vendor from Pingyao in the northern Shanxi province, originally bought the hand-written scripts at an antique market in Nanjing, capital of eastern Jiangsu province, in the autumn of 2005.

Peng said he rejected an offer made by a Japanese citizen to buy the scripts for 10 million yuan in December 2009.

"I'm a descendant of the Chinese nation. The Japanese can't take it away, even with 100 million yuan," he said. "The scripts must stay in China."

Japan and China have a longstanding dispute over the ownership of the Diaoyu islands (known as Senkaku islands in Japan).

Source: Xinhua

For more information on the East China Sea dispute, see the Menas Borders website, here.