An estimated 20,000 march in San Francisco
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HANDS OFF THE DIAOYUTAI:
As many as 20,000 demonstrators marched through San Francisco Chinatown last Sunday to protest recent efforts by the Japanese government to stake claim to the Senkaku, or Diaoyutai, Islands, located about 100 miles northeast of Taiwan. |
By Bert Eljera
A dispute over a group of islands in the East China Sea has resurrected centuries-old enmity between Japan and China, and the furor has reached the shores of the San Francisco Bay Area.Last Sunday, dozens of Chinese American and Chinese expatriate organizations sponsored a rally at Portsmouth Square in San Francisco Chinatown to protest what they called a Japanese land grab of the islands.
The demonstrators-about 20,000, according to organizers-protested recent efforts by the Japanese government to take over the uninhabited rocky archipelago known in Japanese as Senkaku Islands and in Chinese as Diaoyutai Islands.
Japan, China, and Taiwan are all claiming the islands, which are located about 100 miles northeast of Taiwan and may contain gas and oil deposits.
China claims the islands, surrounded by waters with rich fish stocks, have been part of Chinese territory since 1403. Japan annexed the islands, along with Okinawa, by force more than 100 years ago.
After World War II, the United States took over the islands and Okinawa, but handed them back to Japan in 1971. The Chinese felt the islands should have gone back to China then, and not given to the Japanese.
Consul Hiroshi Furusawa of the Japanese Consulate in San Francisco said, "The islands are an inherent part of Japanese territory. This position has been known to the government of China," Furusawa said. "This is not new to them."
He said that Japan attaches a great importance to the relationship with China and the stable ties with Taiwan.
"We do not want this issue to affect this important and friendly relationship," Furusawa said.
In July, a group of young Japanese radical nationalists built a lighthouse on one island and erected a monument and planted a Japanese flag on another, igniting the current dispute.
The action triggered anti-Japanese demonstrations in Taiwan, Hong Kong, and China, which, for the first time, seemed to be united in one issue.
This week, Hong Kong and Taiwan demonstrators sailed for the islands, hoping to replace the Japanese flag with a Chinese flag, but were turned back by Japanese patrol boats.
Ignatius Ding, spokesman of the Diaoyutai Defense Coalition of Northern California, which organized the San Francisco rally, said Japan is again flexing its military muscle.
Japan invaded Manchuria in the 1930s to spark what eventually became the Pacific War
"The way the Japanese handled the issue by military force is a reincarnation of its militarism," Ding said. "They have never apologized for their invasion of Manchuria."
But Furusawa said the Japanese Youth Federation, the youth group that built the lighthouse, is not sanctioned by the Japanese government.
"We are not involved in their activities and we do not intend to support their activities," he said. "We certainly hope the issue will be solved in a calm manner."
The Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday that Chinese Foreign Minister Qian Qichen and his Japanese counterpart, Yukihiko Ikeda, will bring the issue to the attention of the U.N. General Assembly, which is meeting in New York.
China is also involved in a dispute over other islands in the China Sea, such as the Spratleys, which are being claimed by the Philippines, Vietnam, and other countries.
Betty Yuen, chairwoman of the Diaoyutai Defense Coalition and head of the Alliance for the Preservation of the Truth About the Sino-Japanese War, said her groups want to raise American awareness about the islands.
She and other coalition members fear that the dispute may escalate in the future and could result in the first direct military confrontation between China and Japan since World War II.
Yuen said the Bay Area-based coalition is planning more protest actions, including a call to boycott Japanese products, particularly cars.
One Japanese product will be a target for boycott each week, she said, adding that the boycotted products will be replaced by those made in the U.S.
"If we work together, we think we can put pressure on Japan," Yuen said.
One of the protesters, Florence Fang, said the rally was meaningful because it showed the deep patriotic feelings of all Chinese.
"We stood up for ourselves," said Fang, who joined the protest as an individual and as a member of the Chinatown Merchants' Association, a member of the coalition. "We showed courage in trying to protect our territory even without the support of either the Chinese or Taiwanese government."
Fang, who heads the company that publishes AsianWeek, was in the lead car of the motorcade to Portsmouth Square.
Japan's efforts to keep demonstrators away from the island revives fears among the Chinese about Japanese imperialism, according to Ding and other members of the coalition.
He said that recently, the Diet, the Japanese parliament, declared a 200-mile economic zone beyond Japan's territorial waters, where it would have exclusive fishing, mining, and development rights.
Several countries have declared the 200-mile zones, although the generally accepted international standard is seven miles from shore within which a country can declare exclusive navigational and other rights.
If unchecked, Japan's forward move can reach close to the Chinese coastlines, Ding warned, although Furusawa declared that Japan has no intention of expanding beyond its current territories .
"We have made our position clear to everyone," he said.