Tag: Diaoyu

  • Updated: Did the Chinese government really call Diaoyu/Senkaku a 'core interest'?

    The Japanese news wire Kyodo News last week reported that the Chinese government called the Senkaku/Diaoyu island issue a ‘core interest.’ “The Diaoyu Islands are about sovereignty and territorial integrity. Of course, it’s China’s core interest,” ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a press conference, using China’s name for the Japanese-administered isles in the East…

  • Is the China-Japan confrontation Xi's inside political play, or part of a broader move?

    Is China’s new leader, Xi Jinping, flexing military muscle with Japan to solidify rule within the Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army, or is the heightened dispute with Japan best viewed in a broader context? At Foreign Policy, John Garnaut examines the relationship between Xi and the PLA. The article is worth a read, but the…

  • What kind of 'hawk' is Japan's Shinzo Abe? Probably not the kind you think

    Shinzo Abe became prime minister of Japan in December, more than six years after he first took the job, succeeding long-serving Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in September 2006. In the U.S. press especially, Abe is often termed a “nationalist” or “hawk” for supporting expanded military activities and a potential revision of the Japanese constitution. Crystal…