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Commenting on China's Dream of Regional Hegemony
Submitted by James Ong (not verified) on February 19, 2013 - 10:24pm.
China's antagonists like to paint China as a rising power, out to challenge US & Japan in the East China Sea. In truth, China was merely reacting to Japan's illegal purchase of Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands.
US and Japan have no respect for international treaties, having ignored two WW II treaties, requiring Japan to return Chinese territories, stolen or taken by violence, to China. The Potsdam Declaration says particularly that the territories of China which were occupied by Japan before WW2 must return to China. (http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=4f1_1347980503). US' & Japan's intention is simply, the continual containment of Chinese military expansion within the first island chain, so as to create a chokepoint against China, in the East China Sea. (read the article at http://www.startribune.com/world/184641431.html?refer=y)
And adding insult to injury, Japan even denied that there was ever an agreement between the then leaders of China and Japan in 1972, to shelve the dispute over Diaoyu/Senkaku issue for future generations to solve. This denial was refuted by former US Secretary of State, Henry Kissinger, who said that at the time of signing the Treaty of Peace and Friendship between Japan and the People's Republic of China in 1978, China and Japan had decided to temporarily lay aside the issue of Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands sovereignty (see the video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNzykJyKz9A).
Even if one were to look from the angle of history, according to Meiji era documents unearthed by Nicholas Kristof of the New York Times, in 1885, Japan acknowledged China as the owner. It seems pretty clear from the documents that Japan effectively stole the islands as spoils of war in 1895.
(read the article at http://kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/05/chinas-new-leader-and-the-is...)
Clearly then, Diaoyu Islands belong to China. Consequently, not even US and Japan, which by virtue of 2013 Defense Authorization Act, can deprive China of
Diaoyu Islands. And obviously, China must continue to patrol, control and take possession of the airspace and waters of Diaoyu Islands, to protect its territorial sovereignty.
