Will Japan Send Troops to Yonaguni?

As tensions continue over the Senkaku Islands, there is now talk of stationing Japan Self-Defense Forces troops at the island of Yonaguni:

Japan’s defense ministry has asked for a budget to study a plan to station ground troops in Japan’s southwestern islands near the disputed island chain, the Nikkei Shimbun reported.

The only Japanese troops permanently stationed in the far south are on Okinawa, but the plan calls for troops on Yonaguni, close to Taiwan.

For now, the Japan Coast Guard has been responsible for patrolling the area around the Senkakus. As you can see from the Asahi video below, the Chinese decision to deploy patrol ships to the area has led to a very tense situation in which Japanese and Chinese patrol ships are observing each other at very close range:

Meanwhile, Japanese Diet members have been calling for the release of the tape of the boat collision that started this whole mess:

Calls to release the video of the collision have been increasing, as it is reported to clearly show the Chinese vessel deliberately rammed a JCG vessel. Currently, the Naha District Public Prosecutors Office is holding the footage as evidence.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan told reporters at the Prime Minister’s Office Tuesday that the submission of the video “will be decided by the prosecution. I expect the Diet will discuss the matter to hammer out a course of action.”

Justice Minister Minoru Yanagida said at a press conference that he would make a decision after seeing how deliberations in the Diet proceed. Article 47 of the Criminal Procedure Code stipulates materials related to a lawsuit should not be released before a trial, except if releasing the materials would be in the public interest. Yanagida said he thinks releasing the footage may fit this requirement.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku told reporters Tuesday afternoon that there is historical precedent for releasing material related to a trial based on a resolution made at a Diet committee.

During a meeting of Diet Affairs Committee chairmen Tuesday, the ruling parties agreed to ask the government to submit the footage to the Diet if the opposition parties ask for it. Yoshio Hachiro, Diet affairs chief of the Democratic Party of Japan, said if there is a strong demand for the footage to be released, the ruling parties will proceed proactively.

Calls to release the footage also reflect a desire to show the international community how unreasonable the Chinese government has been in defending the skipper.

The Yomiuri has run an editorial with the headline “Release video to prove Japan was in the right.”

In a FTV news report about the latest developments in this case, an expert tied the tape issue to China’s release of only 3 of the 4 detained Fujita employees. China probably released the Japanese citizens to help improve the tense situation, but it could not release all four because of worries about the reaction of the nationalistic masses. Keeping one Japanese citizen detained also allows gives China something to beat Japan over the head with if things get worse. The release of the video tape could once again heat up the crisis, so that Fujita employee may prove to be useful.

Prime Minister Kan, who says he had nothing to do with the decision to release the Chinese trawler captain, is even denying that he has seen the video tape of the incident.

[hat tip to Magus]

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weirdo

I think you mean “Only 3 OF the 4″

http://www.japanprobe.com James

Oops: yes. Thanks for pointing that out.

Mister M

I really dont understand why China is member of security council at United Nations. As a member of security council, isnt China supposed to provide safety enviroment or peace around the globe?

Magus

China is a member of the security council because those seats belong to the original main founders of the UN — USA, Russia, France, UK, and the Republic of China.

Since the Republic of China was obstinate in its dictatorial days and refused to renounce claim to the Mainland, people had no choice but to agree that if there is to be a “China” in the world, it is the China that resides in China (PRC), not on the island of Taiwan (ROC). When the switchover of “China” from “Republic of China” to “People’s Republic of China” occurred, the PRC inherited the spot on the security council.

So on one hand, Taiwan was unfairly ripped of its powerful UN seat (and the UN brags to this day that is has never banished any nation from the UN… officially, that is). On the other hand, it is very important that the PRC hold a position on the security council for the same reason that Russia holds a seat. It was important that both the USA and the Soviet Union had security council positions because it meant that neither the US or the Soviets could bully the other which could spark a catastrophic nuclear war. Now that China has taken the Soviet’s place as the big red authoritarian country, it means that the US and China can’t do anything unilaterally to each other that would destabilize the world.

Rob A

Hmm, at least one thing is settled seeing those patrol boats side-by-side in the video.

Japan’s is bigger…

http://www.japanprobe.com James

Jokes aside, I think the Chinese government meant it to be that way.

If anything goes wrong, it can be argued that the bigger and scarier Japanese ship bullied the smaller Chinese boat.

China also uses armed “fisheries patrol vessels” instead of naval or coast guard ships.

dk

In Chinese minds, it doesn’t really matter which boat rammed which, since the main point that got China all riled up was the perception that Japan was arresting a Chinese citizen on Chinese territory, they go “what right does Japan have to arrest our citizens in our waters?” and point to this as indication of “the revival of militaristic nature of Japan”. So even if the Chinese acknowledged that their boat actually rammed the Japanese boat first, barring the likelihood they will claim the video was doctored, the release of the video will not solve anything since the central issue is the disputed territory.

The most peaceful way to solve this border dispute would be direct talks on the issue, but for Japan to sit down with China about this is to acknowledge that the Senkaku Islands are, in fact, disputed territory. I can’t foresee any third parties willing to piss off China to meditate in this situation, so the Senkaku issue, as I see it, can only end with war or Japan ceding the islands due to overwhelming political pressure. Pretty grim.

Magus

Most of the world recognizes Japan’s claim to the Senkakus since that is what was decided upon post-WWII by the USA. More than likely, after some time, this whole issue is going to die down and we’re going to continue the status quo of Japan owning the islands and the PRC rampantly disregarding the borders (much like they do to, correct me if I’m wrong, every single border on every side of their country).

To say that the only option is war or Japan ceding islands that it both de facto and most probably de jure owns is more than a little sensationalist…

Dev

The Japanese should do what NATO pilots did with the Tu-95 Bears: wave Pornography to the Chinese Ships.

Will Japan Send Troops to Yonaguni?

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