China curbs anti-Japanese protests, pledges to maintain ‘hardline stance’

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Beijing, Sept. 23: China has moved to control the wave of anti-Japanese protests that erupted across the country in recent weeks, but is vowing to strengthen counter-measures against Japan for nationalising the Senkaku Islands, which Beijing has long laid claim to.

Hardline remarks about Japan by Chinese leader-in-waiting Xi Jinping suggests Beijing will not back down on issues involving the Japanese-controlled islands, called Diaoyu in China.

According to the Japan Times, in the wake of Japan’s announcement that it had bought three islands in the Senkakus, China has launched measures to stake its own sovereignty claim, sending patrol ships near the isles, announcing its own baselines for what it claims are its territorial waters nearby, and providing weather forecasts for the islands.

In addition, Chinese scholars argue that Beijing should send surveillance ships near the Senkakus on a routine basis and impose additional pressure on Tokyo through economic and diplomatic means.

“Japan should not mistake China’s patience and tolerance as an opportunity to press for more ‘concessions,’” Wang Xiaoxuan, director of the Naval Research Institute of the People’s Liberation Army, said.

“Facing the latest strained and complicated developments following Japan’s provocative behaviors on the Diaoyu Islands issue, China should make all possible preparations, including preparations for a possible military conflict and even war,” Wang said. (ANI)