China pushes with sea claims, trade threats, several Japanese companies surrender
Riot police and uniformed police stand outside the main entrance to the Japanese embassy in Beijing September 17, 2012. — Reuters picsBEIJING, Sept 17 — China has moved to bolster its legal position in a volatile territorial dispute with Japan, state newspapers said today, warning that Japan could endure another “lost decade” of economic stagnation if Beijing turns to trade retaliation.
The volley of warnings from Chinese officials and newspapers came after a weekend of protests across dozens of cities, some of them violent.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda urged Beijing to ensure Japan’s people and property were protected.
The ruling Chinese Communist Party, which rarely allows street protests, opened the door to the display of public anger after Japan’s decision last week to buy disputed East China Sea islands, which Tokyo calls the Senkaku and Beijing calls the Diaoyu, from a private Japanese owner.
Beijing called that a severe violation of its sovereignty and the dispute has triggered a wave of nationalist ire that the Chinese government has sought to both channel and contain.
China’s latest effort to show resolve in the dispute was to announce it will submit to a United Nations commission a proposal spelling out its claims in the East China Sea, based on its definition of the limits of its continental shelf.
The planned submission “reflects the Chinese government’s unwavering determination and will to protect national maritime rights”, said Deng Zhonghua, a Chinese Foreign Ministry official in charge of boundary and maritime issues, according to a Xinhua news report late yesterday.
Smaller protest marches resumed today in front of the Japanese embassy in Beijing, watched by hundreds of police and anti-riot officers, but were nothing like the thousands who turned out in several cities at the weekend.
The long-running territorial row has erupted again while Asia’s two biggest economies focus on domestic political pressures.
Noda’s government faces an election in months, adding pressure on him not to look weak on China.
Demonstrators chant slogans and carry a Chinese national flag as they march past riot police outside the main entrance to the Japanese embassy in Beijing September 17, 2012.China’s Communist Party is preoccupied with a leadership turnover, with President Hu Jintao due to step down as party leader at a congress that could open as soon as next month.
Those political pressures have narrowed the room for diplomatic give-and-take. Last week, a Chinese commerce official warned that the argument could spill over into economic ties.
China is Japan’s largest trading partner.
In 2011, their bilateral trade grew 14.3 per cent in value to a record US$345 billion (RM1.05 trillion). A Nissan Motor Co Ltd executive has said the tensions were affecting business with China.
Today, the overseas edition of the People’s Daily, the main newspaper of the Chinese Communist Party, warned that Beijing could resort to economic retaliation if the dispute festers, threatening enduring repercussions for Japan.
“How could be it be that Japan wants another lost decade, and could even be prepared to go back by two decades,” said a front-page editorial in the newspaper.
China “has always been extremely cautious about playing the economic card”, it said.
“But in struggles concerning territorial sovereignty, if Japan continues its provocations, then China will take up the battle,” the paper said.
At the weekend, Chinese demonstrators looted shops and attacked Japanese cars and restaurants in at least five cities.
Protesters also broke into Japanese-run factories in eastern Qingdao on Saturday, according to the Japanese broadcaster NHK.
China and Japan have long been at odds over how they define their territorial limits in the East China Sea.
Beijing’s planned submission to a UN commission is intended to clarify its claims under international law.
Japan says the median line between the two countries’ coasts is the boundary of their respective exclusive economic zones.
China says the boundary is defined by its continental shelf, extending its claimed zone beyond the median line.
A police officer try to stop a protester during a demonstration outside the Japanese consulate in Shanghai September 15, 2012.In SHANGHAI, some Japanese firms have temporarily shut factories and shops in China after angry protests over a territorial dispute.
The Japanese government is warning its citizens about large-scale protests in China tomorrow, when China marks its official memorial day for Japan’s war-time occupation of parts of China.
“I’m not going out today and I’ve asked my Chinese boyfriend to be with me all day tomorrow,” said Sayo Morimoto, a 29-year-old Japanese graduate student at a university in Shenzhen.
Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba told reporters today that Tokyo and Washington agree the disputed East China Sea islets claimed by Japan and China are covered by the Japan-US security treaty.
Economic blow
Last week, a Chinese commerce official warned that the quarrel could spill over into economic ties.
Already, however, major Japanese corporations have been bruised by the tensions and resulting protests. A catalogue of temporary closures has underscored the risk of the political dispute wounding economic ties.
Japanese media reports said companies were temporarily curbing operations and cutting travel in China.
Canon Inc will stop production at three of its four Chinese factories today and tomorrow, citing concerns over employees’ safety.
Panasonic Corp has taken similar steps at its plants in China.
Toyota Motor Corp said it is tallying losses from the violence, including a suspected arson attack on a dealership in eastern China’s Shandong province.
All Nippon Airways Co reported a rise in cancellations on Japan-bound flights from China.
At the weekend, Chinese demonstrators looted shops and attacked Japanese cars and restaurants in at least five cities.
Protesters also broke into Japanese-run factories in eastern Qingdao on Saturday, according to the Japanese broadcaster NHK.
Qingdao police announced on the Internet today that they have arrested a number of people suspected of “disrupting social order” during the protests, apparently referring to the attacks on Japanese-operated factories and shops there.
Japanese expats in China said there was a growing concern over their personal safety.
Many Japanese schools across China, including Beijing and Shanghai, have cancelled classes because of the heat up in the protests. — Reuters
