RUSSO / CHINESE EXERCISE IN SEA OF JAPAN SCHEDULED FOR LATE AUGUST

THE DRAGON WISHES TO AGGRAVATE THE 

RISING SUN:

  Map ,U.S.Department of Energy  

The Dragon  (China) and the Rising Sun (Japan) have been having a naval tension filled dispute  over the Senkaku Islands , or Diaoyu Islands as they are known in China. The dispute  concerns conflicting territorial claims over a group of uninhabited islands known as the Senkaku Islands in Japan, the Diaoyu Islands in the People's Republic of China(PRC), and Tiaoyutai Islands in the Republic of China (ROC or Taiwan). Japan has administered the islands since at least the 1890s except during the U.S. occupation of Japan after WWII. When the final peace treaty was signed the Senkaku were described in the treaty as an intergral part of southernmost Japan and part of the territory that the United States was committed to defending.  China never said a word in protest nor appeared to have any historical interest in the islands until oil was discovered in the area. Now the Dragon claims ownership and is posturing to test U.S. and Japanese will to defend the uninhabited area, should China decide to take the islands by force of arms. 

 To advance the Japanese perception of the Dragon's posturing as militarily ready to assert ownership, the Chinese navy has scheduled a naval exercise within the sea of Japan for August with the Russians who are still holding northern islands belonging to Japan and never returned after WWII. The exercise is believed to involve 20 war ships and support vessels and air craft from both China and Russia. Russia and China have signed a protocol to conduct joint exercises in the Sea of Japan according to a recent announcement by the Russian Defense Ministry's Eastern Military District. Most ominous is the announcement that the exercise will include marine landings, clearly a signal that China wants to leave the impression that they are ready willing and able to invade the islands whenever they deem it expedient. 

 Clearly the Cold War is back featuring again a tentative alliance between the those strange bed fellows the Dragon and the Bear. They are strange bed fellows simply because it is inevitable after they are finished cooperating to intimidate everyone else in their respective regions they will have a go at each other over their long and disputed Siberian Border.  

21st Century Essential Guide to South and East China Sea Territorial Disputes Involving China and Japan - Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands, Oil and Hydrocarbon Resources, East Asia and Pacific Disputes Kindle Edition