Newspaper Review Four

Date: 9 December 2008
Title: Outcry over China Ships in Japan seas
From: The Straits Time A12

Introduction:

Two China survey ships enter the waters that Tokyo considers its, yesterday and Japanese envoy protested this to his Chinese counterpart, Wu Dawei. This reignited the previous territorial row between these two countries. The waters are claimed by 3 countries, namely China, Taiwan and Japan. The waters are also the source of friction between them, long ago.

Taiwan and Tokyo:

The relationship between Taiwan and Tokyo was strained further in June 2009. When the Japanese Coast Guard ship rammed and sunk a Taiwanese fishing boat. A vessel was later sent out to rescue the 16 passengers on board the ship and later brought back for questioning. Compensation was made to the skipper last week.

China and Tokyo:

China on the other hand has entered the waters for the second time. The first time was in 2004. Therefore, a summit is going to be held with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, South Korean President Lee Myung Bak and Japanese Prime Minister Taro Aso. The agenda is to discuss regional and international issues of concern to all three countries.

Reflections:

The ways the countries handle the problem deserve applause. Instead of using violence, like the past, they brought up the matter and negotiated peacefully. I guess many disputes over territories have occurred in the past. An example is the dispute between Singapore and Malaysia over the rocky island.

The promise set up by a previous US president with various countries, which is to solve all our problems peacefully without going into war have prevented the happening of wars in the past.

However, I don’t think that we are solving our own disputes correctly which often lead to fights. If we apply what the countries are doing between themselves into our problems, I guess fights can be prevented. This may sound exaggerated. Maybe we can go into a smaller-scale version and work by sorting out our things peacefully without the formalities? Is the matter of perspective, maybe?

Some things that are not even worth quarreling are used as the reason to squabble. A third party would be needed if the matter is not settled then. The third party acts like the International Court.

Lynn