Sino-Japanese maritime dispute: Since the friction over the southern Senkaku islands (Diaoyu to the Chinese) began to intensify around 2010, China has steadily expanded its fishing fleet, coast guard, and naval activities around them, Grant Newsham writes. Chinese ships are in more places, more often, and in greater numbers than the Japanese Coast Guard can handle. China’s air force also routinely intrudes into Japan’s airspace, while harried Japanese jets dutifully scramble to intercept. In one brazen case of letting Japan know what’s in store, Beijing in August 2016 sent well over 200 fishing boats and 15 coast guard ships to the Senkakus – with China’s navy over the horizon. There was little the outmanned Japanese could do. Not surprisingly, China reckons it can take the Senkakus whenever it wishes. It’s only a question of time before Chinese “fishermen” land on the Senkakus, and the Chinese Coast Guard dares the Japanese to respond. And there’s more to it than just the Senkakus. Beijing has quietly stated that the entire island chain, which is known in Japan as the Nansei Shoto and includes Okinawa, is properly Chinese territory. READ THE STORY HERE
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