…ago consists of five islands and three reefs • Japan, China and Taiwan claim them; they are controlled by Japan and form part of Okinawa prefecture • The Japanese government signed a deal in September 2012 to purchase three islands from Japanese businessman Kunioki Kurihara, who used to rent them out to the Japanese state • The islands were the focus of a major diplomatic row between Japan and Chi…
…ercussions as far as Japan-China relations are concerned. It is important that we avoid misunderstanding and unforeseen problems.” Osamu Fujimura told reporters that the government had set aside 2.05 billion yen ($26 million) to pay for the three islands. Japan said on Monday that it was buying the islands to promote their stable and peaceful management – a move that followed a bid by…
…gzhou, demonstrators gathered near the Japanese consulate calling on Tokyo to quit the islands. In Shanghai, protesters held a banner reading “down with Japanese imperialism”. An estimated 200 demonstrators also marched through central Hong Kong to the Japanese consulate chanting anti-Japanese slogans, broadcaster RTHK reported. In the south-western city of Chengdu, protests shut down…
Japan has accused China of violating its airspace for the first time after a Chinese government plane flew near disputed East China Sea islands. Fighter jets were scrambled after the plane was seen around 11:00 local time near one of the islands, spokesman Osamu Fujimura said. Japan lodged an immediate protest with Beijing, he said. The islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, have…
Japanese politicians have set sail for a group of disputed islands, in the teeth of protests by China which claims them for its own. A flotilla of some 20 Japanese boats set out for the Senkaku (Chinese: Diaoyu) islands and is expected to anchor off them early on Sunday. The politicians plan to commemorate Japanese dead in World War II, when Japan occupied eastern China. But Japan’s governm…
…llies in Chinese cities. Chinese indignation grew recently when nationalist politicians from Japan visited disputed islands to commemorate the Japanese dead of WWII Japan’s coast guard reported 20 Chinese marine surveillance ships in the vicinity of the islands last week. They confirmed to Kyodo news agency on Sunday that the last such vessel had left. The cancellation of Thursday’s c…
Japan’s government has reached a deal to buy disputed islands in the East China Sea from their private owner, local media reports. The government will pay 2.05 billion yen ($26 million) to buy islands known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. There was no confirmation from officials, but the reports were carried by major Japanese media outlets, citing government sources. The outspoken Tokyo…
– called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. The Japanese coast guard said it was the highest number of Chinese boats in the area since Tokyo nationalized part of the island chain in September 2012. China said its ships had been monitoring Japanese vessels. The State Oceanic Administration issued a statement saying three of its ships had “found” several Japanese ships around th…
US defence secretary Leon Panetta has warned territorial disputes in East Asia have the potential to become wider conflicts if provocations are not reduced. “A misjudgement on one side or the other could result in violence, and could result in conflict,” Leon Panetta said at the start of an Asian tour. His comments came as anti-Japanese protests continue to sweep China over a disputed…
…of the islands has been rumbling for years and has flared sporadically. A spokesman from Taiwan’s Coast Guard Administration said that 58 fishing vessels arrived in the disputed waters at around 05:00 a.m. local time after setting off from a northern Taiwanese port on Monday afternoon. The fishing boats were accompanied by several Taiwanese coast guard vessels. Japan’s coast guard said…
The Duchess of Cambridge wore what she had assumed was a traditional national dress to an event celebrating Solomon Islands’ culture…only to later discover that the dress was actually from the Cook Islands, some 3,000 miles away. Kate and William were meant to have dressed as Solomon Islanders to the party in the capital of Honiara on 16 September, part of their Diamond Jubilee tour o…
Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has called on the UK government to hand over the Falkland Islands, in an open letter printed in British newspapers. President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner urges British Prime Minister David Cameron to abide by a 1965 UN resolution to “negotiate a solution” over the islands. The letter says they were forcibly stripped from Ar…
…p in China’s battle to demonstrate that the potentially oil-rich area is Chinese. Xinhua quoted the Haihang Group ship company as saying that a 47,000-tonne ship, capable of accommodating nearly 2,000 passengers, was ready to sail and that another was being built. The first tours would take place ahead of the May Day holiday, said Tan Li, the executive vice governor of Hainan province, just…
…apanese protests in China have forced Japanese businesses to close or scale down operations. In some cities on Tuesday, Japanese shops were attacked and vandalized on the anniversary of an incident in 1931 which led to Japan’s invasion of north-east China. The protests appeared to have diminished on Wednesday. “Regarding damage to our embassies and consulates, we plan to demand compens…
n as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku in Japan, are uninhabited but resource-rich. They have been a contentious issue between the two countries, and were the focus of a major diplomatic row between them in 2010. The dispute flared up again over the weekend after Tokyo said it had agreed to purchase them, leading to thousands of protesters taking to the streets in various parts of China. The demonstrati…
…nds: • Known as Dokdo (Solitary islands) in Korea, Takeshima (Bamboo islands) in Japan • Also known as Liancourt rocks • Claimed by Japan and South Korea, but occupied by South Korea since 1954 • Just 230,000 sq m in size, with no fresh water • Surrounding waters valuable for their fishing …
Zhou Xiaochuan, the governor of China’s central bank, has pulled out of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings being held in Japan. The move comes amid an ongoing territorial dispute between the two countries. Relations between the two soured after Japan said it had purchased disputed islands in the East China Sea claimed by both Tokyo and Beijing. China’s four state-…
…ompany went bankrupt in 1992 the hangar fell into disuse. A Malaysian company saw the potential in the hangar, which is the world’s largest freestanding building, and Tropical Islands Resort opened in 2004. The Tropical Islands Resort in Krausnick, Germany, is the world’s largest indoor beach with 400 sunloungers Despite the impressive interior of the hot hangar, visitors reviewing the indoor tro…
Japan’s coast guard has detained a Chinese fishing boat for allegedly fishing inside Japanese waters, Chinese officials say. The boat was seized on Saturday near Japan’s Kagoshima Prefecture, China’s Xinhua news agency reported, citing the Chinese consulate in Fukuoka, Japan. The captain had admitted entering Japanese waters, Xinhua said. Japan’s coast guard has detained…
ers, exports of wild-caught birds are strictly regulated. Using records from importing countries, Traffic investigators calculated that about 54,000 birds were exported from the Solomons in the period 2000-2010. More than 40,000 of these were declared as captive-bred. Most belong to species native to the Solomons, but more than 13,000 came from non-native species, mainly originating in Indonesia a…
McKeeva Bush, Cayman Islands prime minister, has been arrested as part of a corruption investigation, local police say. The charges against McKeeva Bush, 57, include misuse of a government credit card and importing explosive materials. McKeeva Bush had been in power since his United Democratic Party (UDP) won general elections in 2009. The British overseas territory is one of the world’s la…
ion. He also said he had reviewed the Falklands’ military defenses and was prepared to send reinforcements if necessary. Tension over the remote South Atlantic archipelago has been growing since 2010, when British companies began drilling for oil in waters off the Falklands. Argentina has been rallying support for its claim from other Latin American nations, and President Cristina Fernandez…
…hess of Cambridge received an intricate beaded necklace from a gaggle of bare-chested locals in Solomon Islands and she couldn't help but let out a giggle The royal couple is staying in a secluded 1,200 Australian dollars-a-night thatched leaf bungalow with its own private jetty from where they can go sunbathing, snorkelling and canoe paddling. House No 1, their home for the night, stocked wit…
North Korean propaganda website Uriminzokkiri has warned of strikes against South Korea’s islands and advised residents to leave. The Uriminzokkiri website, linked to the regime, mentioned targets including Yeonpyeong island, which was attacked by Northern forces in 2010. Pyongyang has made a series of threats since its last nuclear test in February prompted the UN to tighten sanctions. The US sa…
…where, regional official Nancy Melo told the Associated Press news agency. But on Friday the islands’ government said the fire had now intensified, and a fresh blaze had begun on Tenerife. About 2,500 people have been evacuated on La Gomera, along with some 2,200 people on Tenerife, the Agence France-Presse news agency quoted the regional government as saying. On La Gomera, the flames have d…
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