Japan and the United States began a 10-day joint military exercise on Monday. Photo: US Pacific Fleet
* Lieutenant General Kevin Schneider made the remarks after touching down on a Japanese destroyer for the start of a joint drill
* He also took aim at recent ‘malign activities on the part of Beijing’, including its military build-up in the South China Sea
American troops could be sent to disputed islands in the East China Sea, the head of US forces in Japan said, as the two allies began a high-profile drill amid growing concerns over Beijing’s military activities in the region.
“Our arrival today was simply to demonstrate the ability to move a few people, but the same capability could be used to deploy combat troops to defend the Senkaku Islands or respond to other crises and contingencies,” Lieutenant General Kevin Schneider, commander of US Forces Japan, said on Monday.
Schneider made the remarks after touching down on a Japanese destroyer in waters south of Japan for the start of Keen Sword 21, the first joint military exercise between the countries since Yoshihide Suga became prime minister last month.
He was referring to a group of uninhabited but strategically located islands claimed by Japan and China, where they are known as the Diaoyus, as well as Taiwan. Controlled by Japan, the islands and the waters that surround them are at the centre of a bitter maritime territorial dispute between Beijing and Tokyo.
Read more ....
Update: US commander: Troops can be delivered for Senkakus (NHK News)
WNU Editor: China has responded .... US provocation may encourage Japanese right-wing forces to take action on Diaoyu Islands: analysts (Global Times).
Uhh can someone spell proxy war? ;)
ReplyDeleteJapan took the islands in 1879 after the Meiji Restoration. No Japanese were living there, but they took it.
ReplyDeleteThey confirmed it with the Treaty of Shimonoseki after they beat the shit out of China in 1895.
The Treaty of Shimonoseki of Treaty of San Francisco in 1945. That is when China got Taiwan back.
Maybe China should not have got Taiwan back. Maybe Japan should have kept Taiwan and Korea?
Maybe there should be a 3rd Sino-Japanese War. China can take Japan and give back Hokkaido, where the Japanese can live with the aboriginal people of Japan whom they call earth spiders or something.
I think China went about this all wrong. I don't know that there was a good way to go about it despite others being in the wrong.
This reminds me of a scene form the film Serenity.
The Operative: That is a trap. I offer money, you'll play the man of honor and take umbrage. I ask you to do what is right, you'll play the brigand. I have no stomach for games. I already know you will not see reason.
I don't think China could have won at The Hague before the South China Sea debacle back in the 1990s although they have the best claim.
It is either aliens or war. I prefer aliens, but war it will be. (Others will start the war.) I don't get a vote about war or anything in America. Democrats steal elections.
Catch 22 is starting to make sense. Think of where those people in uniform came from. They came form the street.