Read
- Special Report: Syria's Islamists seize control as moderates dither
- Stocks, bond prices drop as Fed points to reduced bond buying
- Obama defends U.S. intelligence strategy in wary Berlin
|
- Wall St. drops after Bernanke hints at slowing stimulus
|
- Tropical Storm Barry forms in the southern Gulf of Mexico -NHC
Reuters Photojournalism
Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography. See more | Photo caption
Sponsored Links
Japan PM urges Chinese restraint after radar lock-on
Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attends a lower house plenary session at the parliament in Tokyo February 5, 2013.
Credit: Reuters/Issei Kato
TOKYO |
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe urged China on Wednesday not to stoke tension over disputed East China Sea isles, a day after Japan said a Chinese vessel directed radar normally used to aim weapons at a target at a Japanese navy ship.
A Chinese government spokeswoman said she was not aware of the details of the incident, and focused instead on China's stance that Japan should stop sending its ships into what China considers its territorial waters around the islands.
"The incident is a dangerous conduct that could have led to an unforeseeable situation. It is extremely regrettable that China carried out such a one-sided, provocative act when signs are emerging for dialogue," Abe told parliament.
"I ask the Chinese side to return to the spirit of mutually beneficial, strategic relations and prevent the recurrence of an incident like this. I strongly ask them for restraints so that the situation will not escalate further."
Fire control radar is used to pinpoint the location of a target for missiles or shells. Directing the radar at a target can be considered a step away from actual firing.
The radar incident, which Japan said took place in the East China Sea on January 30, came days after Chinese Communist Party chief Xi Jinping told Abe's envoy that he was committed to developing bilateral ties.
"I have seen the reports but I don't understand the details of the situation," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told reporters.
"In recent days, Japan has on many occasions deployed aircraft and ships and illegally entered Chinese waters around the Diaoyu Islands. China has made representations on many occasions and requested Japan stop its illegal activities."
Relations between Asia's two biggest economies deteriorated sharply when the Japanese government bought the islets, called the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China, from a private Japanese owner, in September, igniting protests across China.
The island row has in recent months escalated to the point where both sides have scrambled fighter jets while patrol ships shadow each other.
(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka and Koh Gui Qing)
- Tweet this
- Link this
- Share this
- Digg this
- Reprints
Everything is exactly the same:
Denies WWII war crimes history– condemned universally, including by NY Times.
Japan hacks computer in a deliberately irritating manner, casting the blame of China — attempt to annul the criticism from NY Times and all peace lovers.
Japan wrote a letter, deliberately worded artfully, knowing that it will create excitement from Taiwan to send a boat to claim Abe’s implied suggestion that he will be willing to acknowledge Taiwanese ownership of the islands in the future —- then Japan rammed the Taiwanese boat, responding reasonably to Abe’s letter, and the Japan ridiculously asked for damages.
It’s a one-man show by Abe.
EVERYTHING, THE RECENT HACKING, is choreographed by Abe.
Just look at him in the photo. Does he feel threatened? No. He feels that his choreography is certain allow him to fool all the peace-loving Japanese in Japan go over to his side to change the Constitution — ABE IS A TRAITOR TO JAPAN.
His grandfather brought sufferings, destruction to Japan by its warmongering. Peace and prosperity came to Japan after the United States forced it to rewrite the Constitution. Now, Abe is trying to fool the majority of moderate Japanese leaders to take the path that brought the Japanese people shame, destruction and suffering.
In any case, Japan is basically provoking at the minimum, an economic cold war with China and this is where they will lose handily. Japan needs China far more than the other way around. China runs a large trade deficit with Japan but unlike the China-U.S. deficit, they do not hold a lot of Japanese debt. In essence, they have few vested interest in helping the Japanese economy grow. Sure, at one point China was helped by learning the technical expertise that the Japanese firms offered but that is no longer the case. South Korea and some other European nations such as Germany has already matched, if not surpassed, what Japan can offer China in many cases. A significant drop off from their largest trade partnership would send the Japanese economy into a tailspin. If they thought the lost decade was bad, wait until they experience the fallout from this one.
Follow Reuters