Japan, U.S. abandon drill to ’retake’ isle — Joint exercise called off due to fear of backlash from China

Japan and the U.S. have decided to cancel a joint drill in which their forces would “recapture” a remote island in Okinawa Prefecture, according to informed sources.

Tokyo and Washington were considering holding the drill on uninhabited Irisuna Island as part of joint military exercises slated for November.

The drill, however, would worsen the backlash from Beijing, which has reacted harshly to Japan’s nationalization of the Senkaku Islands, which are also claimed by China and Taiwan.

A government source said the decision to skip the Irisuna recapturing drill “reflects the opinion of the prime minister’s office.”

Another reason was opposition from residents on Okinawa Island, about 60 km away, where sentiment against U.S. bases has flared up following allegations that a Japanese woman was raped by U.S. sailors Tuesday.

In light of these factors, the Defense Ministry found it difficult to proceed with the exercise, although it is considering substitute drills, the sources said.

Jiji Press, October 21, 2012
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20121021a4.html

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 Taiwan adopts resolution to declare ownership of the Japan-administered Senkaku Islands

TAIPEI – Taiwan’s Parliament has adopted a resolution to declare ownership of the Japan-administered Senkaku Islands in the East China sea.

Taipei began claiming sovereignty over the islands, which it refers to as Diaoyutai, in the early 1970s, but this is the first time the legislative body has adopted a formal resolution related to them.

The opposition People’s First Party proposed the resolution Friday with support from by the ruling Nationalist Party and Taiwan’s biggest opposition group, the Democratic Progressive party. The Taiwan Solidarity Union, an opposition party close to former President Lee Teng-hui, voted against the resolution.

Jiji Press, October 21, 2012
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20121021a4.html

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 U.S. team to help defuse isle dispute on territorial conflits

WASHINGTON – The U.S. government will send a group of former national security officials to Japan and China next week to encourage Tokyo and Beijing to mend diplomatic ties frayed by a territorial dispute, sources said.

The U.S. team, including former Deputy Secretary Of State Richard Armitage, will visit Japan on Monday and Tuesday and meet with Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to promote closer communication between the two sides toward resolving the row over the Senkakus, the Japanese-administered islands in the East China Sea claimed by China, they said. The islands are known as Diaoyu in China and as Tiaoyutai in Taiwan.

The group, though not in an official capacity, will then visit Beijing to hold talks with Chinese officials including Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Dai Bingguo, the sources said.

Along with Armitage, Washington is also sending James Steinberg, former deputy secretary of state in President Barack Obama’s administration, Joseph Nye, a former Pentagon official, and Stephen Hadley, who served as national security adviser to George W. Bush, the sources said.

Kyodo Press, October 22, 2012
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20121022a9.html

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 Senkakus not flagged as ’core interest’ in China’s talks with U.S.

WASHINGTON – Chinese leaders avoided referring to the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands as a core national interest during talks with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in September in an apparent attempt to avoid a diplomatic clash with Washington, U.S. State Department sources said Sunday.

In discussing territorial issues with Clinton in China, Premier Wen Jiabao did not make remarks suggesting the disputed islands, which China calls the Diaoyu, are part of its “core national interests,” a term Beijing uses to refer to key territories it is determined to hold onto or ultimately take control of, the sources said.

The talks with Clinton followed a meeting in Beijing in May in which Wen told Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda that Japan should respect China’s core interests and major concerns – an apparent reference to the islets. They also took place after the United States made it clear that the islands fall within the scope of the U.S.-Japan security treaty, which would oblige Washington to support Japan if the islets came under attack.

The uninhabited islands in the East China Sea also were not referred to as a core interest in Clinton’s separate meetings with Chinese President Hu Jintao and Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, the sources said.

While Beijing is not expected to soften its position on the row with Tokyo, it appears to be cautious about challenging Washington on security issues.

China described the disputed Spratly Islands in the South China Sea and surrounding waters as a core national interest in its economic and security dialogue with the United States in May 2010, when U.S. officials expressed concern over the territorial dispute. Clinton later asserted that Washington also has a “national interest” in the region.

The Spratly Islands are also claimed, in whole or in part, by Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Vietnam and Taiwan.

Kyodo Press, October 22, 2012
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20121022b1.html

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 Japan: Festering islet dispute with China inflicting pain on aviation, travel industries

The heightened Japan-China tensions over the Senkaku Islands dispute is affecting the aviation and travel industries of both sides, with future prospects looking increasingly gloomy, analysts say.

According to Japan’s transport and tourism ministry, weekly flights between the countries had dropped by 122 as of Friday, about 16 percent of the roughly 740 offered before tensions flared anew.

Japanese carriers cut 21 regular flights while Chinese carriers eliminated as many as 101. Separately, 50 regular Chinese flights to Japan have been canceled since the beginning of this month alone.

In tandem with the shrinking air traffic, Japanese travel to China has declined markedly. Reservations for package tours to China in October have fallen to “about half” the previous year’s level, JTB Corp. said. Other major travel agencies are reporting the same effect.

Jiji Press, October 23, 2012
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20121023f2.html

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 Territorial conflits: Japan trade hit by Europe crisis, China tensions

TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s trade deficit widened in September as exports plunged 10.3 percent from a year earlier, weighed down by Europe’s debt crisis and a surge in antagonisms with China that have damaged close economic ties.

The deficit for the month was 558.6 billion yen ($7.2 billion), the Finance Ministry said Monday, higher than the forecasts of many analysts and bigger than a deficit of about $3.7 billion a year earlier. The deficit in August was $9.6 billion.

September’s exports totaled 5.4 trillion yen ($68.7 billion). Imports rose 4 percent from a year earlier to 5.9 trillion yen ($75.9 billion), inflated by additional imports of oil and other fuels for power generation as most nuclear reactors remain offline in the aftermath of last year’s Fukushima nuclear disaster.

So far, Japan’s trade deficit for 2012, according to the ministry’s provisional figures, is about 4.73 trillion yen ($60.6 billion).

The ministry figures show exports to all regions falling, apart from a meager 0.4 percent year-on-year gain in shipments to North America. Exports to crisis-stricken Europe plummeted 26 percent.

A territorial dispute with China that sparked anti-Japanese riots in September took a heavy toll, with exports to China sinking 14 percent from a year earlier to 953.4 billion yen ($12.2 billion). Imports from China climbed 3.8 percent to 1.28 trillion yen ($16.4 billion).

The rise in antagonisms over disputed islands in the East China Sea has been especially hard on the auto industry. Auto exports fell 15 percent in September from the year before

The strong Japanese yen has hurt the country’s export competitiveness, while demand has evaporated as growth slowed in most regions. Exports of consumer electronics, a mainstay, fell by double-digit figures from a year earlier.

Resource-scarce Japan is almost entirely dependent on imported fuel, and it has long relied on robust exports of high-value consumer goods and industrial products such as machine tools to help counter the cost of importing its energy needs.

With most of the country’s nuclear plants shut down, manufacturers and utilities have increased their reliance on traditional energy sources such as oil and gas, while stepping up conservation and investments in renewable energy.

Boosted partly by higher prices, imports of fuels jumped 18 percent in September from a year earlier to 2.15 trillion yen ($27.6 billion), accounting for more than a third of Japan’s total imports.

AP, October 23, 2012
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20121023p2g00m0bu035000c.html

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