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[Eric-GCA]

http://www.iht.com/articles/539040.html

TOKYO -- Reflecting growing wariness between the two giants of Asia, an advisory panel to Japan's prime minister will recommend that China be viewed as a potential military threat for the first time, a newspaper here reported Wednesday. Since the end of World War II, Japan has regarded its main military threat as coming from the north, Russia, and from the west, North Korea. But now, according to the report in Japan's leading business newspaper, Nihon Keizai, the 10-member advisory panel to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will recommend that China, to the southwest, be regarded as a potential military threat.

Although China has about 10 times Japan's population, its traditional dominance of Asia was in remission in the 20th century, hobbled by civil war and Japanese rule, then by half a century of communist economic policies.

With the recent market-oriented economic boom, China's economy is expected to surpass that of Japan in 15 years. Already it is investing heavily in military spending. “While the Russian military capability in the Far East has dropped dramatically in the last 15 years, conversely, China has gone on a big spending boom,” Lance Gatling, a U.S. defense consultant, said Wednesday. “They are looking at a deep-water navy, more offensive weapons, reconnaissance satellites.

“The panel will not call it directly a military threat, but the concern about a conflict between Taiwan and China is quite real, and Japan is concerned about getting drawn into that.” Japanese and American officials this week discussed the possibility of permitting U.S. and Japanese military flights to an island that is almost halfway between Okinawa and Taiwan. A Washington-based defense expert visiting Tokyo said Japan was considering the request, along with a proposal to build a port on the island, Shimoji Shima, that would be able to berth Japanese ships equipped with antimissile batteries. In recent years, Japan has used the missile and nuclear program of North Korea as justification for its growing partnership with the United States in developing a missile defense.

This has allowed Japanese military planners to avoid talking about China. Japanese officials hope to avoid getting drawn into any conflict between China and Taiwan, a former Japanese colony that Beijing regards as a breakaway province. However, the East China Sea is seeing a rise in direct tensions. Boatloads of Chinese nationalists have tried to land this year on the Senkakus, about 160 kilometers, or 100 miles, northwest of Shimoji Shima, an archipelago claimed by both nations. In addition, China has started laying a seabed gas line toward an area that Japan claims as its exclusive economic zone. While military tensions appear to be on the rise, booming trade with China is credited with pushing much of Japan's economic recovery. With Toyota recently announcing a $500 million investment in China, China is expected to displace the United States this year as Japan's top trading partner. However, this economic bonanza could be threatened by widespread anti-Japanese sentiment in China.

 

[Ah Beng]

.

 

[Stele]

Welcome to ten years ago. If China attacks Taiwan, one of the first things that has to be done is to neutralize Okinawa.

 

[mrkapawutzis]

This should be settled with a shoot-out between Beat Takeshi and Chow Yun Fat.

 

[MaddenNFL64]

Wow, the world has changed quite a bit over the last half century. Japan is an ally, Russia is shit, and China is, or will be soon, a world superpower.

Thankfully we all need eachother economically, so WW3 will probably not happen for hundreds of years... unless some crazy shit goes down.

 

[yoshifumi]

ww3 2007! john titor!

 

[Boogie]

Wow, the world has changed quite a bit over the last half century. Japan is an ally, Russia is shit, and China is, or will be soon, a world superpower.

Thankfully we all need eachother economically, so WW3 will probably not happen for hundreds of years... unless some crazy shit goes down.

In the first years of the 20th Century, many believed that the growing economic interdependance and prosperity in Europe would prevent a major war between the major powers because of how damaging it would be to the continued economic prosperity. And then the first World War happened.

Not saying that today's situation is similar, just that economic interdependance is not a rock solid defence against war.

 

[Stele]

ww3 2007! john titor!

Chen Shuibian plans to pass a new Taiwan constitution by 2006, and its enactment in 2008. Something is going to happen this decade, and that is probably the trigger point.

 

[SlickWilly223]

Fools! You think the Soviet Union is dead? HAHA! That's what they wanted you to think!

 

[Screaming_Gremlin]

Fools! You think the Soviet Union is dead? HAHA! That's what they wanted you to think!

 

[explodet]

MUST CRUSH CAPITALISM

 

[Ghost]

Oh NOES!, i guess that means Japan will have to stop importing all those cheap chinese electrical goods and re-plunge that money into local manufacturers who happen to be struggling.

SHOCKAR!






And id like to see China get past Tiawans giant lazers.

 

[cvxfreak]

I'm surprised China wasn't listed already.

 

[Stele]

Oh NOES!, i guess that means Japan will have to stop importing all those cheap chinese electrical goods and re-plunge that money into local manufacturers who happen to be struggling.

Then that money plunges into a black hole and is never seen again.

 

[Saturnman]

In the first years of the 20th Century, many believed that the growing economic interdependance and prosperity in Europe would prevent a major war between the major powers because of how damaging it would be to the continued economic prosperity. And then the first World War happened.

Not saying that today's situation is similar, just that economic interdependance is not a rock solid defence against war.

The problem is that you had an arm's race and opposing military alliances with all those countries. The tiniest spark and you were going to have a big fire.

Furthermore, based on recent history, they foolishly thought a conflict wouldn't last long.

 

[Shinobi]

Fools! You think the Soviet Union is dead? HAHA! That's what they wanted you to think!

Heh, you're not far from the truth...

Hypothetically speaking, the Chinese people would probably welcome an invasion of Japan...from what I've gathered, they still hate their guts.

 

[Eric-GCA]

They do have a good reason to, if you've ever read up about what happened at "the rape of Nanking", as well as other things during the Japanese occupation of China, it makes today's "atrocities" look cuddly in comparison.

 

[norinrad21]

Heh, you're not far from the truth...

Hypothetically speaking, the Chinese people would probably welcome an invasion of Japan...from what I've gathered, they still hate their guts.

Funny you should say that, this chinese lady gave my girlfriend a funny look while on the bus yesterday, me being nosey as always asked my g/f why the lady looked at her in that way and she said because they hate Japanese people.


Its a bout time Japan beefs up their military

They will be unstoppable in Asia again if that happens.

 

[Shinobi]

With all due respect, Japan couldn't even look at China if the latter wanted to do anything. When you've got a sixth of the world's population to draw fighting personnal from, you're not gonna have too many concerns in your particular region.

They do have a good reason to, if you've ever read up about what happened at "the rape of Nanking", as well as other things during the Japanese occupation of China, it makes today's "atrocities" look cuddly in comparison.

Yeah, I've never really studied up on it, but I've heard it was some bad shit. It was incredible seeing the way mass of Chinese supporters rocked the shit out of the bus that Japan's soccer team was on a couple months ago following an Asian Cup game...it really looked ugly. At least they're not bombing each other to pieces like other regions in the world.