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Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning sails through the Miyako Strait near Okinawa on its way to the Pacific in this handout photo taken by Japan Self-Defense Forces and released by the Joint Staff Office of the Defense Ministry of Japan on April 4, 2021.
Japan tells China to cool it with maritime incursions
Tokyo has shared “serious concerns” with Beijing after a Chinese aircraft carrier traversed a section of the sea within Japan’s contiguous waters for the first time on Wednesday. This took place between the islands of Yonaguni and Iriomote, off Taiwan’s east coast. Owing to Yonaguni’s proximity to Taiwan, smaller Chinese vessels conduct regular drills and patrols in its vicinity.
Chinese incursions into Japanese waters are common, with hundreds of incidents every year. Japan is most concerned, however, by maneuvering near the Senkaku Islands, which China also claims. There are intrusions around that archipelago almost daily.
To beef up its own position in the conflict, Tokyo has embarked on military reform and diplomatic strengthening of ties with other democracies in the region. This, says David Boling, Eurasia Group’s director for Japan, is to remind China that “You may be bigger than us, but we’ve got more friends.” Tokyo is also in talks with the US to host a deployment of intermediate-range missiles that China would hate to see deployed so close to the mainland. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs addressed the missiles in a press conference on Wednesday, the same day that the carrier made its close transit.
Japan is in the middle of its own election campaign for the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, who will then replace outgoing Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. All the likely winners take strong stances on China deterrence and are hoping for backup from whoever wins the White House in November.
“One of the things that is always at the top of their minds when a new US president comes in is an assurance that the security agreement between the US and Japan extends to the Senkaku Islands,” says Boling.
An Afghan man works in a poppy field in Nangarhar province in 2016.
Hard Numbers: Afghans' fewer poppies, Trump's lead in key states, Lake Titicaca’s lower water level, New Delhi's smog, Japan's new frigates, Swifties' tents
95: Once the world’s top opium supplier, Afghanistan has slashed its cultivation of opium poppies by a whopping 95%, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime. The drop follows a Taliban edict banning opium cultivation.
5: Former President Donald Trump is leading in five of six battleground states in the run-up to the 2024 presidential election, according to new polls by The New York Times and Siena College. The numbers indicate that Biden is trailing among registered voters in Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. The president remains ahead in Wisconsin by the smallest of margins: two percentage points.
29: Over the past seven months, Lake Titicaca’s water level at the Peru-Bolivia border has fallen 29 inches to near-record lows. According to scientists, climate change is exacerbating this year’s El Nino phenomenon, layering heat on top of heat in South America’s largest freshwater lake.
471: In more bad environmental news, primary schools in New Delhi have been closed through Nov. 10 due to high pollution levels. On Sunday, the capital recorded an Air Quality Index reading of 471, a level considered hazardous.
12: The Japanese Ministry of Defense will acquire a total of 12 new Mogami class frigates over the next five years. The vessels will be used to defend the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea, which are controlled by Japan but also claimed by China and Taiwan.
5: Die-hard Taylor Swift fans have been camped out in tents for 5 months for a chance at front-row seats to the singer’s Eras Tour concerts in Buenos Aires on Nov. 9, 10, and 11. Some Bad Blood has been reported between the tent dwellers and locals who say the Swifties should get jobs rather than spend days waiting for their idol – but despite the potentially Delicate situation, fans appear able to Shake it Off.
As the world gets tougher on China, Japan tries to thread a needle
TOKYO (NYTIMES) - Earlier this year, as it became clear that the coronavirus pandemic was not going to pass quickly, the Japanese government delayed plans for what would be the first state visit by a Chinese leader to Tokyo since 2008.