Naval Tensions Between China and Japan

The China’s naval tensions over the South China Sea to China’s east and over some strings of Islands between China and Japan are not new. The China has started showing its authority over South China Sea whereas some other Asean (Association of South East Asian nations) countries including neighboring countries like Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei. This has generated rivalry among the neighboring nations because they all considered their sovereignty over the sea. On the other hand China also had very intense rivalry with Japan over the case of string of uninhabited islands, where Japan has administrated those islands but China has claimed its rule by saying that these islands were part of China’s maritime territory from hundreds of years ago. Responding to this claim, the Japan says that it has shown no trace of China’s control over the islands in the survey of 1885 so they formally announced them as part of Japanese Sovereignty in 1895. (Steven Jiang, CNN, 2012)

The tensions between Japan and China are high over the disputed islands and meanwhile China and the Philippines have got rivalry on course of South China Sea territory control and also some lucrative gas reserves beneath waters. The Chinese ships entered the water around the controversial group of islands claiming it their territory however those islands are in control of Japan. The ships arrived near the uninhabited islands which Japan calls Senkaku and China calls Diaoyu and military patrols and law enforcement and the cold war began. (Xinhua, 2012)

Three Level Analyses of China’s Naval Tensions

The three level of analysis includes global, state and individual level analysis of the causes and effects, pros and cons of the above stated situation between China and its neighborhood countries.

Global Analysis

As far as global concerns and responses related to this issue are studied, it gave rise to a cold war and intense rivalry among China and its neighboring plus ASEAN partners countries. And on the other hand a much strong enmity between China and Japan.

Consequently, the global interference, other than these two or three major nations, started when The United States of America intervened in favor of Japan and flew two B-52 Bombers, unannounced just after few days. However The Chinese did not react to it as the geopolitical oppositions were created underneath.

The long running argument between both nations had given rise to a number of protests in China by the public and a sense of anger and enmity had developed against Japan. The US, a key collaborator of Japan has said again and again to Tokyo and Beijing to settle down their disputes through table talks and deals. Soon after the matter the U.S Defense Secretary of that time Leon Panetta decided to meet with his counterparts in Japan and China to resolve the issue. (CNN, 2012)

If the globally history is recalled then it is revealed that Japan after 1885, sold those disputed islands to the descendants in 1932.The Japanese surrendered at the end of the world war 2 in 1945 and the islands were then administrated by USA occupation force. But after 1972 the Washington departed and handed control of them to Japan.

Now the China, Japan and also the Philippines are facing global issues while the USA is clearly supporting Japan.

State Analysis

Regarding this issue, the most involved states are China and Japan. Other concerned states include the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and The United States of America more importantly.

Impact on China

China and members of the ASEAN held joint maritime rescue exercise recently. This is their largest ever joint military patrol and exercise which indicates a temporary period of lack of rivalry activity between the disputed nations. (online, 1 november,2017) China exercised several naval drills on the Bohai and Yellow seas and maintained firm focus on northern shores but it shifted focus to South China Sea previous year after a Hague tribunal rule against china’s territorial claims in the area in July 2016. Then, last year a United Nations backed tribunal deciding on an application by the Philippines, rejected the Beijing’s claim over most of the South China Sea.

Due to these disputes of China with other neighboring countries, China and Chinese people had suffered a lot. Anti Japanese rallies were broke out in several cities of china and also sometimes they turned aggressive. The Chinese social sites and messages showed clear signs of anger and frustration. As a result of these sites, Japanese stores, restaurants, Japanese made cars were burnt and traumatized.

When the controversy aroused, the people of China started to do protest against Japanese authority. The Japanese media also reported incidents of assaults on Japanese nationals in China. But the ministry of china soon controlled the situation by saying that the protest and anger by the Chinese nation is not meant for Japanese people and a3so that the safety of the Japanese people would be protected in China.

Impact on Japan

Kristen Vikasi said, “Following the 2012 protests…members of the Japanese business community saw how quickly Chinese consumers turned out Japanese products when the political winds shifted against the country.”

It was very disturbing for Japanese firms to find that the political and economic environment of china is linked. The surveys conducted by consulting firm TEIKOKU DATABANK revealed that 40 percent of the firms suffered negative tradeoffs as result of anti Japanese protests in china with the results that automobiles, popular stores and electronics were left only with shut down option.

The Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) revealed that as compared to the last year there was a sudden and tremendous drop of 14.5% in firms that were planning to expand in Japan. Also they noticed severe pessimism for Japanese firms. In their surveys of Overseas Japanese firms, the Japan Bank of International Cooperation (JBIC) revealed that 16 % of firms overall reported negative repercussions from the maritime territory disputes with China and 65% of automobile makers claimed detrimental outcomes. According to the JETRO report, the number of companies that felt positive and optimistic about their future in China faced a drop down of 30% points as compared to the last survey done in 2010. Mean while for the first time in decades, the china lost its top ranked investment destination for Japan in the JBIC survey.

Compared to the previous political disruptions for example the 2005 protests or the 2010 trawler incident, the 2012 protests probably caused more disturbance and negative impact on the Japanese trade and investment. (Vikasi, 2017)

After the first two political disruptions the Japanese economic leaders were willing to move forward from “Cold politics, Hot Economics” but after 2012 protests these attitudes were changed a lot.

Today after five years some researchers contend that the dispute has been resolved and now the economic relations of china and Japan are moving positively towards a right trajectory.