This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/24/world/asia/japanese-and-chinese-boats-converge-on-contested-islands.html
The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 5 | Version 6 |
|---|---|
| Old Sore Spots Flare Up in China-Japan Disputes | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| TOKYO — Japanese lawmakers paid their respects at a shrine to those killed in war, including those executed as war criminals, in what the local news media described as the biggest group visit by Parliament members in recent memory. | TOKYO — Japanese lawmakers paid their respects at a shrine to those killed in war, including those executed as war criminals, in what the local news media described as the biggest group visit by Parliament members in recent memory. |
| The visit threatens to exacerbate tensions with South Korea and China, which view the shrine as a symbol of a lack of repentance for Japan’s brutal expansion across Asia. It took place as a territorial row with China flared, with boats carrying Japanese nationalists and Chinese paramilitary ships converging on a group of contested islands. | |
| The 168 mostly low-ranking conservative lawmakers visited the Yasukuni Shrine in central Tokyo just days after a visit by members of the cabinet of Japan’s conservative prime minister, Shinzo Abe. Last year, a group of 81 lawmakers visited the shrine during the same three-day spring festival, when many nationalists say they feel obligated to recognize soldiers’ ultimate sacrifice for their country. | The 168 mostly low-ranking conservative lawmakers visited the Yasukuni Shrine in central Tokyo just days after a visit by members of the cabinet of Japan’s conservative prime minister, Shinzo Abe. Last year, a group of 81 lawmakers visited the shrine during the same three-day spring festival, when many nationalists say they feel obligated to recognize soldiers’ ultimate sacrifice for their country. |
| Analysts said the size of this year’s visit was partly a byproduct of December’s landslide victory by the conservative Liberal Democratic Party, which installed the hawkish prime minister and an increased number of rightists in Parliament. But the analysts also called it the latest example of how Japanese ultraconservatives have become more vocal in recent years, amid growing unease over China’s rising power and its increasingly forceful stance on the long-simmering dispute over the islands, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in Chinese. | Analysts said the size of this year’s visit was partly a byproduct of December’s landslide victory by the conservative Liberal Democratic Party, which installed the hawkish prime minister and an increased number of rightists in Parliament. But the analysts also called it the latest example of how Japanese ultraconservatives have become more vocal in recent years, amid growing unease over China’s rising power and its increasingly forceful stance on the long-simmering dispute over the islands, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in Chinese. |
| On Tuesday, the Japanese Coast Guard reported that eight Chinese patrol ships had entered waters near the islands, the largest number to appear at one time since the dispute surged last summer. The Coast Guard said the Chinese ships converged from several directions into waters near the uninhabited, Japanese-controlled islands. | On Tuesday, the Japanese Coast Guard reported that eight Chinese patrol ships had entered waters near the islands, the largest number to appear at one time since the dispute surged last summer. The Coast Guard said the Chinese ships converged from several directions into waters near the uninhabited, Japanese-controlled islands. |
| The Chinese ships appeared at the same time as 10 boats carrying members of a Japanese ultranationalist group. The boats were followed by Japanese Coast Guard ships apparently seeking to ensure that they did not try a landing, as some nationalists did last year. | |
| Those landings, and the decision in September by the Japanese government to buy three of the islands from their private owner, set off violent street demonstrations in China. Accusing Japan of disrupting the hazy status quo that prevailed before then, China has been sending armed ships from various coast-guard-like civilian agencies on an almost daily basis into or near waters around the islands, apparently to challenge Japanese control. | Those landings, and the decision in September by the Japanese government to buy three of the islands from their private owner, set off violent street demonstrations in China. Accusing Japan of disrupting the hazy status quo that prevailed before then, China has been sending armed ships from various coast-guard-like civilian agencies on an almost daily basis into or near waters around the islands, apparently to challenge Japanese control. |
| The tensions were especially fraught earlier this year after several high-profile episodes, including the scrambling of fighter jets by both sides, that raised fears the dispute would continue to escalate. | The tensions were especially fraught earlier this year after several high-profile episodes, including the scrambling of fighter jets by both sides, that raised fears the dispute would continue to escalate. |
| On Tuesday, the Japanese Foreign Ministry summoned the Chinese ambassador to lodge a formal protest over the latest intrusions, which the top Japanese government spokesman, the chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga, called “unacceptable.” | On Tuesday, the Japanese Foreign Ministry summoned the Chinese ambassador to lodge a formal protest over the latest intrusions, which the top Japanese government spokesman, the chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga, called “unacceptable.” |
| Mr. Suga told reporters that while he did not know why China sent the ships, he did not think they were meant to protest the round of visits to Yasukuni over the weekend by leading members of Mr. Abe’s government. On Monday, the Chinese government criticized those visits, and the South Korean foreign minister, Yun Byung-se, canceled a trip to Japan to talk about issues that included the nuclear crisis with North Korea. | Mr. Suga told reporters that while he did not know why China sent the ships, he did not think they were meant to protest the round of visits to Yasukuni over the weekend by leading members of Mr. Abe’s government. On Monday, the Chinese government criticized those visits, and the South Korean foreign minister, Yun Byung-se, canceled a trip to Japan to talk about issues that included the nuclear crisis with North Korea. |
| There was no immediate response by China or South Korea to the lawmakers’ visit to the shrine. The leader of the group, which includes members of the governing Liberal Democrats as well as opposition lawmakers, said they had the right to honor Japan’s war dead without causing an international incident. | |
| “It is common in any country that a parliamentarian offers prayers for the souls of the departed war heroes who gave their lives in defense of their country,” the leader, Hidehisa Otsuji, a Liberal Democratic lawmaker, told reporters after praying at the shrine. “The angry reactions are hard to comprehend.” | “It is common in any country that a parliamentarian offers prayers for the souls of the departed war heroes who gave their lives in defense of their country,” the leader, Hidehisa Otsuji, a Liberal Democratic lawmaker, told reporters after praying at the shrine. “The angry reactions are hard to comprehend.” |
Chris Buckley contributed reporting from Hong Kong. | Chris Buckley contributed reporting from Hong Kong. |