In Japan Focus, Gavan McCormack, emeritus professor of Australian National University, writes about last year’s tensions over the Chinese fishing trawler that collided with a Japanese Coast Guard vessel near a disputed island chain. He provides historical context and discusses the consequences of the incident:
There is no question but that the Japanese government lost face by “giving in” to Chinese pressure and releasing Captain Zhan. But the incident also helped boost important agendas, notably concerning Japan’s relationship with the US, the Okinawa “base relocation” problem, and future military posture.
By attaching = immediate priority to extracting an American promise to “protect” the Senkakus, Prime Minister Kan Naoto’s government showed its determination to continue Japan’s “Client State” status.37 The initiatives of Kan’s predecessor, Hatoyama Yukio, for closer Japan-China cooperation in the formation of an East Asian Community, became a thing of the past. Instead, Kan used the events to precipitate closer integration of Japanese and US military planning and operations in the Western Pacific and East Asia, and to cooperate in grand regional war games that were plainly intended to intimidate China.
Read more about the fishing boat incident via CDT.
