Japan should restrain itself

Despite it being the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations being normalized between the two countries, Japan has continually tested China's patience this year with one provocation after another.

In fact, it seems intent on escalating them to find the limits of China's tolerance.

In its latest move, the Okinawa prefectural police and Japan Coast Guard detained 14 Chinese citizens that visited the Diaoyu Islands on Wednesday.

The detention of these Chinese citizens is illegal and invalid, because the Diaoyu Islands are Chinese territory. Japan should free them immediately and without conditions.

Since normal diplomatic relations were restored in 1972, the relationship between China and Japan has progressed, despite lurching from one crisis to another.

However, since April, when Shintaro Ishihara, the governor of Tokyo, proposed that the Tokyo government buy the islets from their "private Japanese owners", the latest crisis has become increasingly serious because Japan has repeatedly added more fuel to the fire.

It is in danger of turning its bid to seize China's islands into a dangerous flashpoint. Ishihara, especially, seems determined to push the dispute to an unmanageable level.

In an interview in Tokyo on Wednesday, Ishihara said that Japan should build a military post on the islets and punish the 14 Chinese citizens quickly according to Japanese law. He also called on Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda to land on the Diaoyu Islands.

When Republic of Korea President Lee Myung-bak visited islands that both countries claim sovereignty over, Japan lodged a protest and recalled its ambassador to the ROK. It said it plans to file a suit on the issue with the International Court of Justice and urged Seoul to refrain from making further efforts to cement its illegal occupation of the islands.

Yet, that is exactly what Japan is doing, as it is illegally occupying China's Diaoyu Islands.

Japan also has a territorial dispute with Russia over four islands off Hokkaido, which are claimed by Japan, but held by Russia. The Japanese government is taking many approaches to resolve the issue with Moscow.

However, we see only one approach from Japan on the Diaoyu Islands, and that is confrontation.

Unless it is determined to start a full-blown confrontation, Japan, which initiated it, should put an end to the crisis.

(China Daily 08/17/2012 page8)