Background Briefs via links: Update May 2013

SWIMMING DRAGON BRIEFS BY HYPERLINK

STOP THIS BEAST

THIS IS AN UPDATE OF POSTS FROM SEPTEMBER AND DECEMBER of 2012. WE PROVIDE IT AS A SOURCE OF BACKGROUND READING FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO WISH TO FOLLOW THE INTERNATIONAL LITIGATION THAT CHINA HAS FILED OVER THEIR DISPUTE WITH JAPAN OVER THE SENKAKU ISLANDS. WE VIEW THIS DISPUTE AS SIMPLY ONE PART OF CHINA'S OVERREACHING TERRITORIAL GRAB FOR THE "FIRST ISLAND CHAIN" AND THEIR ATTEMPT TO MAKE THE CHINA SEA A PRIVATE LAKE. THE HYPER LINKS PROVIDED HERE LINK YOU TO A NUMBER OF JOURNALISTIC ARTICLES AND VIDEO THAT WE OFTEN REFERENCE IN OUR SERIES ON THE GREAT CHINA LAND /SEA THEFT THAT WE CALL "HOW FAR WILL THE DRAGON SWIM?"

UPDATED: English Language professional news source found:

Editor's Note: The red letter description of a stand off at sea refers to what appeared to be the opening day of China's now nearly two year long program of systematic harassment of Japan's Coast Guard near the Senkaku Islands. Late in 2012 China added to the program of at sea harassment an international lawsuit claiming sovereignty over the disputed islands. When in December of 2012 we announced that we were dropping our coverage of the event we were referring to our daily reports on this particular stand off, not discontinuance of general coverage of China's claims under our series title "How Far Will The Dragon Swim?" When China first appeared on scene in 2012 for about 48 hours we could not find any English language media coverage so we passed on reports of what was going on on scene from our confidential informants. As soon as we discovered a professional English language journalistic source we began linking to their on line coverage and ceased our ad hoc news operation.  

THIS FROM OUR DECEMBER 2012 COVERAGE:

"IS NO NEWS GOOD NEWS? CHINESE AND JAPANESE COAST GUARD VESSELS HAVE BEEN IN A STANDOFF SINCE THE DAY BEFORE  YESTERDAY. AFTER AN INITIAL AGGRESSIVE OPENING COMMUNICATION BY THE CHINESE NOTHING WAS REPORTED FOR MANY HOURS.  THIS MORNING'S JAPANESE ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWS COVERAGE INDICATES THE SITUATION AT SEA WHILE TENSE IS DE-ESCALATING, BUT TAKING ON A PERMANENT ASPECT. CHECK THE LATEST BACKGROUNDER POSTS BELOW. HERE  ARE SOME LINKS TO RELEVANT BACKGROUND READING FROM VARIOUS SOURCES. WITH THE PUBLICATION OF THIS MORNING'S ENGLISH VERSION OF THE JAPANESE PAPER ASAHI SHIMBUN WE ARE DROPPING OUR ACTIVE RESEARCH INTO OUR OWN SOURCES AND LINKING YOU TO THEIR COVERAGE."

 (Note: THE ASAHI SHIMBUN is a subscription service. If our link takes you to a page that asks you to sign in, try copying the  URL and retry from your browser after clicking out of our site. The paper usually allows new visitors to read about 5 articles in a month without a subscription. If their program monitors clicks from our site vice individual readers the free service is exhausted immediately. If you have a high level of continuing interest in Japanese /Chinese/ American relations the subscription price is quite reasonable, the coverage excellent, the English flawless.)

China to keep ships, fishing boats near Senkakus:http://ajw.asahi.com/article/asia/china/AJ201209200070

China suggests economic sanctions over Senkakus: http://ajw.asahi.com/article/asia/china/AJ201209200084

COMMENTARY/ Satoshi Amako: Let's find a way to bury islands hatchet:http://ajw.asahi.com/article/asia/china/AJ201209190054 

China and Japan: a dangerous standoff over the Senkaku islands

The Senkaku islands dispute is the latest episode in a long history of conflict – and the Americans are increasingly nervous:http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/sep/17/china-japan-dangerous-standoff

September 18, 2012 10:52 pm

Tokyo and Beijing must step back from the brink:http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0c046f64-01af-11e2-8aaa-00144feabdc0.html#axzz26sJeKy6e

NEW: Perhaps the Most Comprehensive Backgrounder:
From: Resource Investor with knowledge of the confrontation in progress:
http://www.resourceinvestor.com/2012/09/19/standoff-in-south-china-sea-close-to-boiling-over?t=precious-metals&page

A VIDEO OF THE MASS MURDER THAT CHINA GOT AWAY WITH AND LAUNCHED THEIR BELIEF THAT THEY COULD BULLY THEIR WAY INTO TOTAL OWNERSHIP OF THE CHINA SEA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy2ZrFphSmc

China-Japan dispute over Islandsclouds $340b trade ties: 

http://gulfnews.com/business/economy/china-japan-dispute-over-islandsclouds-340b-trade-ties-1.1078172

China-Japan Dispute Tests China’s Ties With the US: http://www.voanews.com/content/china-japan-dispute-test-chinas-ties-with-the-us/1511452.html

Amazingly this backgrounder makes no mention of the current stand off. It describes recent U.S. actions including an invitation to the PLAN to participate in joint exercises. The government can't be ignorant of what is going on right now off of the islands. Is it choosing to ignore these developments? Are we sending a signal that we won't honor our 1951 defense treaty with Japan? 

China Seen Boosting Emergency Oil-Storage Capacity, IEA Says Story from Bloomberg link to full story below

China,  the world’s second-biggest crude consumer, will add 245 million barrels of capacity in the second phase of its emergency stockpile plan, the Paris-based IEA said in its Medium-Term Oil Market Report released today. That’s up 45 percent from the IEA’s original estimate of 169 million barrels. Completion may be delayed to 2015, according to the agency, which originally forecast the project would be finished by the end of this year.

China, which buys about half its crude from overseas, is building emergency oil reserves equivalent to 100 days of net imports before 2020 in three phases to lessen the risk of supply disruptions, China Petrochemical Corp., the nation’s top oil refiner, said in September 2009, citing a plan approved by the State Council. While high crude costs and construction delays have slowed purchases so far, many regional administrations have expressed interest in holding supplies, the IEA said.  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-14/china-seen-boosting-emergency-oil-storage-capacity-iea-says.html

  NAMAZU SEZ:  "Greetings bipeds; if we combine this latest news of China building a fuel reserve with my previous observations about their relative naval strength in the China Seas we perhaps see a target date emerging for China's final land grab which would have to involve a naval war with Japan, the U.S., the Philippines, and if the U.S. is lucky possibly with Australia and India allied with the U.S. , Japan, and the Philippines. At present China has over 950 warships but only one less than fully operational carrier, indeed few ships that could challenge the U.S. Pacific fleet on blue water. But if they draw U.S. forces into the semi enclosed China sea where they are a long way from support and the Chinese navy is in a position to figuratively "walk to work" they could win. Of course our wisest course would be to stay out of the China Seas and lob ordinance at their over sized but limited range fleet from the Pacific just off the Pacific beaches of the Philippines. China has no doubt that once such a war opens she is cut off from her global suppliers. The dragon counts on two things. First the Dragon counts on the continuing decline of the U.S. economy and the reduction of our navy to something we can actually afford. Secondly they view Americans as soft and unlikely to support a war that lasts more than 90 days. So it is doubtful that they would definitively attack the Philippines or Japan now. But when they have a national fuel reserve in 2020 all bets are off.