On Monday, March 28th, Japan switched on a radar station near the disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku island group, giving the country a permanent intelligence gathering post on Yonaguni Island, close to Taiwan. The new radar station is 90 miles south of the disputed Senkaku chain.
(Image from GlobalSecurity.org).
One day later, on March 29th, news came out that Japan, under the government of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, has passed a military law that allows Japanese troops to fight on foreign soil for the first time since WWII.
According to Japan Times, the enforcement of the new military law is a “landmark defense policy shift in a country with a war-renouncing Constitution.”
The implementation of the new law and the radar installation have caused commotion in mainland China. China’s Sina News reports that, according to Chinese academic experts, Japan’s actions contribute to causing a potential escalating conflict between China and Japan.
According to Chinese newspaper the Global Times, the source of Sino-Japanese tensions is clear:
“Some Japanese people say that Sino-Japanese relations have only worsened due to China’s Diaoyu policies, but they probably don’t even believe it themselves. The reason is that they cannot accept that China is rising, and the Diaoyu dispute is just the tip of the iceberg” (March 29, 2016).
The news of Japan’s new military law has also become a much-discussed topic on Sina Weibo under the hashtag of ‘Japan’s new security law’ (#日本新安保法#), where many netizens call for a boycott of Japanese goods: “Can’t we all resist buying Japanese goods?” one netizen comments. “Boycott Japanese goods, let’s resist Japan,” another Weibo user writes: “Knock down the little devils!” “This is the beginning of the end for Japan,” one popular comment says.
Although the majority of Weibo users condemn Japan for its actions, and many call for a boycott, there are also other voices. “We can’t do this,” one person writes: “Japanese people are really nice. They were good to me when I was there, friendly and polite. The people love peace, and do not want war.”
Another person says: “Most people only talk about strong condemnation, but are you blind to what China is doing in the South China Sea?!” “There’s enough resentment here,” another netizen says: “But it’s not all as black and white as you think. If things were that simple, we’d already have world peace.”
– By Manya Koetse
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