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In Speech Organized by Beijing, Ex-Diplomat Calls Islands Dispute With Japan a ‘Time Bomb’ Former Chinese Diplomat Says U.S. Is Using Japan to Make Gains in Asia
(about 2 hours later)
HONG KONG — The United States created a “time bomb” between China and Japan by returning disputed islands to Japan instead of China in 1972, and there is now a danger of an explosion over the issue, a former senior longtime Chinese diplomat warned in a speech here on Tuesday. HONG KONG — A longtime Chinese diplomat warned Tuesday that the United States is using Japan as a strategic tool in its effort to mount a comeback in Asia, a policy that he said is serving to heighten tensions between China and Japan.
The diplomat, Chen Jian, a former under secretary general of the United Nations and former Chinese ambassador to Japan, said the United States should restrain Japan and should help bring about negotiations between China and Japan over the islands, known as the Diaoyu by China and the Senkaku by Japan. The retired diplomat, Chen Jian, who served as an under secretary general of the United Nations and as China’s ambassador to Japan, said the United States should restrain Tokyo and should focus its diplomatic efforts on bringing about negotiations between China and Japan over the disputed islands in the East China Sea known as the Diaoyu by China and the Senkaku by Japan.
Mr. Chen said that the United States was trying to use Japan against China and risked fanning a revival of Japanese militarism. In an unusually biting assessment of the United States, Mr. Chen said: “It is in the U.S. interest to quarrel with China, but not to fight with China.”
“The U.S. is urging Japan to play a greater role in the region in security terms, not just in economic terms, which suits the purpose of the right wing in Japan more than perfectly — their long-held dream is now possible to be realized,” he said. While Mr. Chen has retired from China’s diplomatic service, his remarks were particularly significant because they represent the most detailed public exposition of China’s views at a time when Chinese officials have been wary of making comments because of the approaching Communist Party Congress, which is scheduled to begin in Beijing on Nov. 8.
Mr. Chen, whose speech was organized by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and who was accompanied by a half-dozen Chinese diplomats, also said discussions should start on ways to reduce the risk of clashes between Chinese and Japanese patrol vessels, which often come perilously close to each other in the waters off the islands. In the speech, which was organized by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was attended by half a dozen Chinese diplomats, Mr. Chen held out an olive branch by urging that discussions between Japan and China should start on ways to reduce the risk of clashes between Chinese and Japanese patrol vessels that have gotten perilously close off the islands in the last month.
Some in China see the issue of the islands “as a time bomb planted by the U.S. between China and Japan,” he said, later adding, “that time bomb is now exploding or about to explode.” But the thrust of his speech was more hard-hitting, particularly regarding the United States. Some in China and Japan see the issue of the islands “as a time bomb planted by the U.S. between China and Japan,” he said. “That time bomb is now exploding or about to explode.”Mr. Chen accused the United States of encouraging the right wing in Japan, and fanning a rise of militarism.
The United States has said that in the event of conflict, the islands are covered by the mutual defense treaty between Washington and Tokyo, a position that Beijing has severely criticized since the dispute flared anew last month. “The U.S. is urging Japan to play a greater role in the region in security terms, not just in economic terms,” he said during his speech at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Hong Kong. That “suits the purpose of the right wing in Japan more than perfectly — their long-held dream is now possible to be realized.”
“I would expect the U.S. would try to reduce tensions,” said Mr. Chen, who is now dean of the School of International Studies at Renmin University in Beijing. The United States has said that, in the event of conflict, the disputed islands are covered by its mutual defense treaty with Japan, a position that China has severely criticized since the latest dispute flared last month.
Mr. Chen’s remarks, though from someone who has officially retired from the diplomatic service, are significant because they represent a detailed exposition of China’s views at a time when Chinese officials have been wary of public comments. The approach of the Communist Party Congress in Beijing on Nov. 8, which will usher in changes in China’s top leadership, together with the increased pressure from nationalists in China and Japan, have resulted in only fleeting talks between Japan and China over the islands. Mr. Chen described what he called the intervention of the United States in territorial disputes in the South China Sea — where China has been at odds with another American ally, the Philippines — as a way for the United States to expand its influence and restrain the influence of China.
Mr. Chen offered a lengthy list of fairly detailed suggestions and assurances for how China hopes to resolve tensions with its neighbors. “China does not seek to provoke incidents, and will not be the one to do so first,” he said. “Will these countries misjudge and draw China and the United States into a confrontation?” Mr. Chen asked. “The danger is apparent, and China needs to be aware of that.”
He noted that China had only sent administrative vessels to the disputed islands, not warships from its navy. Mr. Chen, who is now dean of the School of International Studies at Renmin University in Beijing, offered a lengthy list of suggestions and assurances for how China hopes to resolve tensions with its neighbors. “China does not seek to provoke incidents, and will not be the one to do so first,” he said. He said that China had only sent administrative vessels to the disputed islands, not warships from its navy.
Mr. Chen said it was unlikely that there would be major changes in Chinese foreign policy after the selection of a new leadership team at the party congress. “I think it’s going to be a smooth change, and the main tenets of our foreign policy will remain very much the same,” he said. Mr. Chen said major changes in Chinese foreign policy were unlikely to follow the selection of a new leadership team at the Party Congress. “I think it’s going to be a smooth change, and the main tenets of our foreign policy will remain very much the same,” he said.
Mr. Chen expressed particular concern about the risk of a collision or other clash between Chinese and Japanese patrol vessels near the disputed islands. He said it was “imperative” to have mutually agreed “mechanisms” to avoid confrontations. By far the biggest threat to stability in the region are the islands where Japan and China are at odds. Little more than rocky outcrops in shark-infested waters, Japan won the islands as the spoils of war in the Sino-Japanese War in 1895. The United States took over administration of the islands at the end of World War II.
Since 1972, when the United States returned the disputed islands to Japan, Japan has administered the islands. The Chinese say that in a verbal agreement between China and Japan, it was decided that the future sovereignty of the islands, which Japan won from China in the 1894-95 Sino-Japanese war, would be left for a future date. China expected that Japan as a defeated nation would have to give up the islands, and that they would be returned to China. But the islands were not returned, rankling China and Taiwan ever since — a rare issue on which those two agree.
The Obama administration has stated that it takes no position on the sovereignty of the islands, a position held by the United States since 1972. The San Francisco Peace Treaty between Japan and the Allies in 1951 did not clearly establish sovereignty of the islands.
The issue burst into the open last month when the Japanese government announced it was buying the islands from a private family who have owned the islands for several decades. China denounced the purchase as “nationalization” of the islands. Japan contends that the sale was just the purchase by one Japanese entity from another, and did not change the status of the islands. In 1972, the United States returned the disputed islands to Japan, and Japan has administered them since. When China and Japan restored diplomatic relations in 1972, the leaders of the two countries decided to shelve the question of sovereignty of the islands until a future date.
Asked if China had a contingency plan in case of a collision of vessels, Mr. Chen said that he did not know. He said that it would be tough to be in China’s diplomatic service today because it was easy to be accused within China of being “soft” on Japan. The Obama administration has stated that even though it would come to Japan’s side in the event of conflict over the islands, it takes no position on the sovereignty of the islands.
Japan and China have had patrol vessels in close proximity to the islands and each other in recent days. The Japanese Coast Guard and China’s State Oceanic Administration each said in separate statements on Tuesday that their vessels had demanded that the other side’s vessels leave the area. The issue burst into the open last month when the Japanese government announced it was purchasing the islands from a private family that has owned them for some years. China denounced the purchase as “nationalization” of the islands.
Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China and Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda of Japan are scheduled to attend a meeting in Laos next week, but Japanese news media reported on Tuesday that there were no plans for the men to hold a sit-down meeting to resolve differences, although they might have an informal meeting in a hallway. The government of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda argued that it bought the islands to prevent them from falling into the hands of the former Mayor of Tokyo, Shintaro Ishihara, a right-wing politician.
Because the islands were transferred from one Japanese entity to another, Mr. Noda’s government says the status quo has not changed, and that there is no need to open negotiations with China over the issue at this time.
Japan and China have both had patrol vessels in close proximity to the islands and each other in recent days. The Japanese Coast Guard and the Chinese State Oceanic Administration each said in separate statements Tuesday that their vessels had demanded that the other side’s ships should leave the area.
Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China and Prime Minister Noda are scheduled to attend a meeting in Laos next week. The Japanese news media reported on Tuesday that there were no plans for the two men to hold a formal talks to resolve differences, although they might have an informal meeting on the sidelines.