The long running dispute between China and Japan over a group of islands has escalated further; violent protests have taken place in a number of Chinese cities forcing Japanese companies such as Canon and Panasonic to suspend operations in the country.The dispute has been a long running issue between Asia’s two largest economies but in recent months both sides have exacerbated the situation.
The islands are called Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japan.
In 2010 the islands were at the centre of a major diplomatic row after the Japanese arrested a Chinese trawler captain whose boat collided with a Japanese coastguard vessel just off the shore of the islands. The situation flared up again in August when a group of Chinese activists landed on the island and were detained by the Japanese authorities. Shortly afterwards a group of Japanese activists landed on the island and planted their nations flag on its soil.
The latest incident stems from the Japanese announcing that the government had bought the islands from their private owner. Chinas outrage was largely ignored and has seen thousands of demonstrator’s stage protests in several cities across China.
Violent protests against a number of Japanese businesses and factories has seen a number of Japanese firms shut up shop or suspend production in the country. Firms such as Toyota have been affected and Canon has suspended operations at three of its factories.
Chinese protestor Xiao Feng told Bloomberg news; “Japan is becoming more and more arrogant and the feelings of Chinese are increasingly being oppressed we need to step up and make our feelings known that they can’t just have their way.”
China has already warned the Japanese that trade could suffer as a result of the dispute. China, the world’s second-largest economy is Japan’s biggest trading partner with mutual trade in 2011 growing 14.3 per cent in value to a record $345 billion. Analysts said the dispute had started to affect Japanese firms operating in China.
“We are definitely seeing that Japanese companies are being directly affected by the protests,” Shaun Rein of China Market Research Group told the BBC. He added; “Japan might want to consider expanding manufacturing operations in Thailand or in other nations that are more welcoming towards Japanese investment, the trade relations are going to be damaged by the continuing protests, for sure.”
An executive from Japanese car manufacturer Nissan has claimed that the tensions have already begun to affect business in the region.
Fears are rising that the dispute could escalate into a military engagement after it was reported that a senior Chinese military figure had urged the army to be ‘prepared for any possible military combat.’
“Efforts should be made to ensure that the military is capable of resolutely performing its duty to safeguard the country’s national sovereignty, security and territorial integrity whenever it is needed by the Party and the people,” Xu Caihou, vice chairman of China’s powerful Central Military Commission, was cited as telling soldiers.
The United States has urged both sides to tone down their increasingly bitter war of words over the longstanding row.
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