And the kicker is that Japan is the closet country to these islands at @ 86-88 miles from their territory. PRC (communists) are the farthest away, then Taiwan.

@Julie, and your point is what?? We own Hawaii and Alaska

The point is, china owns so much land compared to japan, wtf, is it all that important? or maybe they got oil under or near them? ah who cares, get out the nukes and lets rock.

Yeah, lets rock and f*** up the whole planet and die right????stupid azz

Well, China owns us too, so I would assume they are just continuing with their planetary conquest.

rtrik, we don't "own" Hawaii and Alaska, they are part of the United States.

Indiana, they may own us on a "balance sheet" somewhere, but I'd like to see them come and do a repo on us and taking our land.

Money is only a medium of exchange (legal tender). We can just file for international bankruptcy and protection from creditors (like China). After all, this IS OUR HOME.

American soil, blood and treasure is worth dying for. We have proven that over and over.

goddamn, some people are misinformed. china doesn't even own an eighth of our debt. closer to a 1/16th.

I have to agree How much is enough of anything, China's land mass is massive and so is there population but that does not give them the right to bully the Japanese.

South China Sea doesn't belong to China, it is belong to Vietnam, Philippine, but China claims that it was theirs anyway.

The reason? One of the biggest rare Earth materials besides the massive amount in China.

What China is trying to do is to monopolize all rare-Earth materials and then raise the prices of all hi-tech equipment.

China is mad because Japan opened their wallet first. Nice move Japan! Beat them commies at their own game.

The deregulation is the reason corperations invest there. Cheap labor more profit, means more incentive to move a company there to export.

CuongDNguyen:

China is more capitalist now than communist. The deregulation makes it one of the most attractive place for corporations to invest.

Capitalism is a form of an economic system. Communism is a form of government. There are two (2) separate items. China has welcomed the western world's approach to capitalism, but the national government is in total control.

In order for any non-Chinese business to operate in China, they must have a Chinese partner.

Julie, you're a moron. Look at the map. It is closest to Taiwan, mainland China second and mainland Japan third.

I'm no Whale poaching fan but piss on commie china.

This is a huge power play by Japan that strengthens Americas hand against China. ;] Good work MY good friend B. ;]

Cheers

Julie, you're a moron. Look at the map. It is closest to Taiwan, mainland China second and mainland Japan third.

Quite right. The proximity issue is not even close.

Historically, these islands were administered as part of the Formosa (Taiwan) province. The island chain was forcefully ceded to Imperial Japan (along with Taiwan) in the Treaty of Shimonoseki of 1895 which ended the first Sino-Japanese war. It was just one of the many unequal treaties that Qing China had to sign under such pressure at the time. When Japan surrendered at the end of World War II, they renounced all conquered territories including Taiwan. The U.S. occupation force then took over the administration of these islands and unilaterally reverted control back to Japan in 1972, over the protests from both ROC Taiwan and PRC China. Given that the U.S. was determined to keep a reliable foothold in East Asia against the USSR, it would not be surprising at all if some sort of backroom deal was involved. After all, it has already happened some 25 years earlier at the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal with all those 'immunity for data' deals struck between U.S. occupying force and accused Japanese war criminals. Imperial Japan got off far easier than Nazi Germany.

South China Sea doesn't belong to China, it is belong to Vietnam, Philippine, but China claims that it was theirs anyway.

Vietnam didn't lay administrative/territorial claim to the Spratly and Paracel Islands until the 18th century, under the Nguyen Dynasty. In contrast, China has been administering these island chains as part of the Hainan province since the 13th century Yuan Dynasty.

If that alone wasn't enough, Vietnam (North at the time) had accepted the Chinese claim to the Spratly and Paracel islands in 1958, in a letter written by then prime minister Phạm Van Dong himself. It wasn't done under duress. China never threatened to invade North Vietnam if they didn't comply. It was written voluntarily. Then after the North Vietnamese took over the entirety of the country after the war, they changed the story to say that they didn't have the legal right to comment on the territories which actually belonged to South Vietnam at the time??? If South Vietnam had won the war then this argument would have some merit but that's not the case. It just sounds like a bad case of flip-flopping and trying to sneak by on a technicality.

In order for any non-Chinese business to operate in China, they must have a Chinese partner.

Utterly falsehood. Re-check your facts again. JV requirements only apply to certain restricted industries such as telecommunications, transportation, logistics, finance/banking, agriculture, etc. Other than JV, foreign companies also have the option of forming WFOE or the more recent variant, FICE when it comes to investing or doing business in China. As a matter of act, companies from other East Asian countries as well those from Europe and Australia have been operating under the latter for years since China entered the WTO. This is old news, try to keep up to date on the facts. Frankly, it would be idiotic for any country to not protect certain critical sectors of their domestic economy from a complete foreign take-over. Hell, we do it here in the U.S. too. It's okay for us but not for them? The delusion of grandeur that is American Exceptionalism indeed.

If you want to look at a country that is even more restricted when it comes to FDI, you may want to look at India.

http://rru.worldbank.org/BESnapshots/BecpProfilePDFRedirect.aspx

Scroll down to page 5 specifically.

Oh wait, never mind. I forgot that they are a fellow democratic nation and potential ally so we are not suppose to criticize them.

Yes.............that's the whole pics. People here need to know that background........then talk about this issue.........................It's not just simple as buy and sale or by distant.

I am a Chinese, we are not bully others,the land belong to us long time ago,the current owner got it illegally.just like the way the British got America from Indian,then rename it to "USA",then those British call himself "Americans". The Indian is too weak to get their lands back from invaders( so-called Americans now), but, we Chinese are NOT !

If you're not, then do something about it other than listen to your leaders cry about how it hurts their feelings, wahhh wahhh wahhh. If the chinese people had any power they would have thrown over their idiot government long ago instead of being sheep to the red communist regime that isn't even the REAL chinese government anyhow. The real government of china fled to Taiwan years ago. Taiwan's government is the legitimate government of China.

to Gary S.-365365 , if you are right ,then the Idian is the legitimate government of America .by the way ,why should I thrown over the government ? the government give 4000 usd a month to my family,the purchasing power is about 10000 usd in USA. you are so funny. :) thrown over the government ?

george pauljohn

The point is, china owns so much land compared to japan, wtf, is it all that important? or maybe they got oil under or near them? ah who cares, get out the nukes and lets rock.

Laughed out so loud here at work reading this.. :D I was thinking the same thing.. Lets see how fast we can make the world spin

Penlao, you're comparing apples to oranges. If you want to use that argument, then get the f**k out of Tibet. Also, learn how to spell, but I digress. The native americans of this country had many different tribes, each with their own territories overlapping the others. Which tribe do we turn the government over to? The Creek? The Chickasaw? The Cherokee? The Apache? etc. etc. I am part Chickasaw myself and I think I can safely say that we don't want to run the whole country, however, we do have our own self rule, which places like Tibet do not. Also, Your government does not "give" you anything. Do you have free speech? Can you elect leaders of your own choosing? What rights do you have specifically? Can you go outside and practice your religion openly, assuming you have one? I doubt it...that would be considered a threat to your sorry ass government, lmao

Your government does not "give" you anything.

Around 500-600 million Chinese citizens were lifted out of the global poverty level of less than $1.25 a day during the past 30 years of economic reform. That's a statistical data cited by the U.N., World Bank and IMF. With that said, I would think the current PRC government has at least had a partial hand in giving to their own people. Can't say much for the prior generation of cultural revolution crazed leadership who left the country in such bad shape in the first place however. Still, at least some Chinese citizens have begun to a adopt a less than favorable view of Mao in recent times.

Do you have free speech?

As a matter of fact they do have free speech on most topics. Chinese netizens criticize their own government all the time. There are also hundreds of protests every day in China, mostly over administrative, social and economic issues. The Chinese citizens simply aren't allowed to practice critical speech over non-anonymous public mediums or participate in open demonstrations that would challenge the authority of the central government. Protests against local level government and officials is fair game however.

Can you elect leaders of your own choosing?

They can though extremely limited. Thus far, open elections for public officials are primarily held on the village level. There are talks of expanding this system but so far, it is still in a trial phase in the coastal provinces.

Can you go outside and practice your religion openly, assuming you have one?

There are about 200 million Buddhists, 40 million Christians and 20 million Muslims currently in China. Now if you factor in Taoists, Chinese folk religion followers and nominally religious folks who adhere to an amalgamation of previously mentioned religious beliefs, that's another 300-400 million. Combined together, that's nearly 700 million Chinese citizens or more than half of their population who are at least somewhat religious. With that said, that number is still an underestimation. Chinese New Years, a week long holiday which nearly every Chinese celebrates, has many religious folklore and symbolism involved. Safe to say, they aren't a nation of 1.3 billion atheists.

The difference between freedom of religion in China and the West is that outside religions which have a tendency of intruding into political circles such as Christianity, Catholicism and Islam are strictly regulated. Just because they aren't Christians nor want to be Christians doesn't mean they aren't religious. The same argument can be made for many other Asian countries with a long cultural history and identity with only short periods of exposure to western ideologies.

You may want to take some time to do some deeper research or heck, actually visit China to see what things are really like. You might be surprised at just how different the current Chinese society actually is when compared to the imaginary world conjured up in your mind. Conversely, you could just retreat back into your cave and continue to perpetuate more ignorant myths and factually false talking points. It sure is easy to vilify someone when you refuse to learn anything about them.

our average salary increased 13% for the past 5 years,and expected increasing at this speed for the next 5 years. how much your average salary increased ? the US government encourage Japan to have a war with China, the result is USD will depreciate . your Parliament are full of weapon sellers,steel makers,oil sellers. they can make a lot of money from war , but your people will suffer in depression caused by war your government started. your soldier are dying, your jobs are losing , your senators are counting their money .Nice circle !Nice government !

I agree with many on here that Cuong's statement was inaccurate, but that was no reason to collpase the guy's statement. He wasn't rude or inflammatory, so I don't know what is wrong with some of you. You collapse anyone you disagree with. Wtf?

Btw, I told someone to blow me the other day and got quite a few supporting votes for it. This guy gets collapsed for an opinion. I must have ventured into Bizarro World or something.

I say let them duke it out...be interesting to see someone other than American soldiers and sailors die in a war. Besides if we want to contain the Chinese then there is probably noone more capable than the Japanese. If I were the Chinese I'd think about expanding to the North...Vietnam and India would be tough...oh I forgot the Russians are to the North. Maybe they should just shut up and do what they do best....provide cheap labor instead of providing alot of bodies to die.

My, Gordon, you certainly seem to have an affinity for China. It must be because they have such a free and open society. Like the way the censors are treating anything with Xi Jinping's name in it, and the way they've been so forthcoming about his whereabouts.

Or maybe it's the compassionate way they treat their citizens, displacing thousands to create the dangerous ecological disaster called the Three Gorges Dam.

Or maybe it's the way they make veiled threats to Corvallis, OR because a Taiwanese-American citizen there is expressing himself artistically about the oppression of Taiwan and Tibet by painting a mural about Chinese atrocities.

Or maybe it's the way they befoul their own land with pollution.

Or maybe it's the fact that the Chinese are the worst technology and intellectual property theives the world has ever seen.

Yep, pretty admirable people, those Chinese. I applaud Japan for essentially giving them the bird.

Ron-975213 ,Russians are our ally, in UN we vote same direction, USA and UK vote another direction,we will not attack our ally,got it ? I do not feel i am talking to you, I feel I am teaching you,teaching you politics and history. May I ask, did you graduate from high school ? if you did,then high school in your country should open more useful class . I like to talk to someone with some knowledge about politics and history . not like you,I am more interested to see some American soldiers and sailors die in a war, who kill women and children for money,or just for fun, who you call heroes ,we call invaders. cheap labor? cheap labor make people in your country losing jobs,cheap labor make USD going down,cheap labor make US company bankrupt,cheap labor make our robbed land back from invader's hand.If American soldiers and sailors get in our way,we will treat them with missiles made by cheap labors !

Nice trolling, Penlao.

On the offhand chance you're serious, harm our soldiers and sailors and we'll burn your country to the ground. Nothing will live there for a thousand years.

Mr. Tom-2709947,burn my country to the ground? why don`t you do it now ? because Russian will burn your country to the ground too. your senators want to make money from war,they don`t want to commit suicide . coward government you got there. I am telling you where this goes,we will get Diaoyu island back. your soldiers and sailors will fight a little,maybe, then they will pull back,like they did in Vietnam and North Korea . the so called United Nation burn my country to the ground 70 years ago,guess what,we grow back and kick them out. we are not afraid of UN, you think we are afraid of USA ?

harm your soldiers and sailors and will burn my country to the ground? in Vietnam and North Korea we killed lot of your soldiers and sailors , and we are still here to kill more if you are in our way ! is boasting a habit in USA ?

Why all the hate...? We are all people, discussing real estate and now all of a sudden it comes to verbal blows? Friends, that's how wars start. I am proud of where China has come from. Not long ago, this people suffered terribly and now it's getting better for them. Good for China!

We Americans are so bloated with pride we have failed again to embrace our own injustices of taking advantage of that "cheap labor" and all the while we lose our integrity, industry and our dignity by doing so AND we now are stuck in huge debt by bloating the deficit every day yet, complaining about the foreign squabbles of countries that don't have anything to do with the topic.

I love my country and I love the fact that my forefathers have given us so much to be proud of but to read some of the junk coming from this is not acceptable. We should take a real look at where this nation is and glean from Chinas vitality gained when we've on the other-hand, carelessly, given away our hard earned, God fearing right to that freedom we call upon when faced with opposition.

God Bless America and help us see the forest from the trees!

My, Gordon, you certainly seem to have an affinity for China. It must be because they have such a free and open society. Like the way the censors are treating anything with Xi Jinping's name in it, and the way they've been so forthcoming about his whereabouts.

Yep, because I actually analyze the facts and tries to view things across a wider spectrum, it makes me an unabashed supporter of a 'perceived' anti-American force. Are you some sort of American Exceptionalism nationalist shill?

Or maybe it's the compassionate way they treat their citizens, displacing thousands to create the dangerous ecological disaster called the Three Gorges Dam.

In the process controlling a river whose massive floods have killed millions of Chinese through out history. That's a stone cold fact and it happens almost every year. Convenient to ignore this fact in order to make your straw man's arguement isn't it?

Or maybe it's the way they make veiled threats to Corvallis, OR because a Taiwanese-American citizen there is expressing himself artistically about the oppression of Taiwan and Tibet by painting a mural about Chinese atrocities.

The basis behind Tibetan soverignty is sketchy at best. At the end of the WWII, few countries even recognized Tibet is a soverign nation and even fewer had actual diplomatic ties. Then there's also the fact that in 1932, Tibet tried to take advantage of the outbreak of Sino-Japanese war near Manchuria by attempting to seize parts of Chinese territories in Xinjiang and Qinghai. After the war ended, Tibet expelled all Chinese nationals and seized their holdings in 1949 without cause, a move that was protested by the KMT and CCP at the time. Then in 1950, the PLA moved in and had a few small scale engagements against the Tibetan army before Lhasa capitulated and signed a treaty recognizing China's soverignty over Tibet. This part was relatively bloodless because China's forces never made it beyond the border regions. The Chinese crackdown on Tibetan opposition didn't begin in earnest until the late 1950's after years of CIA backed and funded insurgencies. All facts, look it up. There is always more than one side to the story.

Many Tibetan supporters also like to throw out numbers when it comes to how China killed 1.2 million Tibetans during the crackdown of the late 50's going to into the 60's. This number has been widely challenged and disproved by historians across the world, regardless of nationality or affiliation. After all, there were only about 1.5 million Tibetan living in Tibet in 1953 or 6 years before the 'accused' Chinese massacres. In essence, what they claim is that China killed over 80% of the Tibetans? If that's true, who are these people living in Tibet today if the region has been effectively depopulated of native Tibetans some 50 years earlier?

As for Taiwan, just what 'atrocities' has China committed there? Shooting a few missiles into the strait? Please enlighten me because even though I was born and raised in Taiwan, I am completely unaware of any genocides or mass murders China has perpetrated in Taiwan. Exaggerations and outright fabrications are the tools of the factually challenged.

Or maybe it's the fact that the Chinese are the worst technology and intellectual property theives the world has ever seen.

You may want to review the U.S. record of dealing with German scientists at the end of the WWII to see what IP theft at the point of the gun is really like. Your holier than thou pedestal is little more than a crumbling foundation.

Keep preaching from your armchair while omitting inconvenient facts that does not comport to your one sided conclusions. You must be a graduate of the Josef Goebbels school of propaganda.

Juile is somewhat geographically challenged in her assessment on relative distances.

The Senkakus, reckoned from their geographical center of Shento-Bashi, is 110 miles from the nearest point on Taiwan, 247 miles from the nearest point on the Chinese mainland and 545 miles fro the nearest point in Japan proper.

The islands belong to Taiwan, not to China or Japan. Unlike the much more contentious conflict between Japan and South Korea over the Doktos (the two countries have suspended regular diplomatic relations), this conflict is unlikely to result in war, and the US takes no side in it.

Posters on this topic have made me giggle more than usual. A lot of economic ignorance and little understanding of what the money in everyone's hands really represents. Plus I can't imagine China is handing out actual dollars to Penlao, so possible troll bait there.

As for a military conflict, not likely. What the real danger for America/China relations is if to many bad growing seasons in a row causes food prices to skyrocket. That and if interest rates start to rise then both the purchasing of China's goods will decline and inflationary pressure will devalue Chinese dollar holdings. *Those* things matter at the leadership level, not some stupid specs of islands.

That said, it could easily be a pretense to mix things up in the region and China might send in massive military strength into the area after Taiwan and Japan duke it out then pulls a "Hail Mary" into Taiwan, thus finally conquering the original displaced government of China. It wouldn't be without precedent, as the events during and after WWII essentially played out that scenario when the KMT suffered greatly defending China against Japan while the CPC did little. And when victory against Japan was assured the CPC took advantage to great effect of the KMT weakened state and pulled off their Coo.

lee-2266415 Said:

"goddamn, some people are misinformed. china doesn't even own an eighth of our debt. closer to a 1/16th."

Yes, but at $1.2 trillion, China is still the the third largest holder of US debt, behind only our own Social Security Trust ($3 trillion) and the Federal Reserve ($2 trillion). That's damn scary if you ask me.

EXACTLY my sentiments Mike. I am beginning to think our US gov't officials are scared to death of China................................. "or is it the loss of Chinese cash being stuffed into the pockets of Wash DC congressmen and senators????????." LoL

Gutless.

well the republicans sure like making sweetheart grain deals for their wealthy farmer friends that's for sure

Well now you know what Nixon gave away when he went to talk to Chairman Mau.

leftrightcenter,

Yeah, while Clinton just sold them nukes.

@ Leftrightcenter,

yeah, those Republicans could sure learn some table manners from the pristine Democrats. That's for sure.

george...........it's Chairman Mao, you ignoramous. Not Mau. You should have stayed in school after the fifth grade.

Geez SoSick, lighten up. Is it necessary to use name calling and demeaning comments to make your point?

You would have more credibility if you debate in a humane way.

NC-492358 Why would we sell either nukes? Japan and China are both already nuclear powers.

SoSick, You are one piece of RIDICULOUS CAKE with no bounds of lunacy. You say that Japan was NOT part of the the Axis powers when Japan attacked US forces in WW2.

YOU ARE FLAT DEAD WRONG......... as you have been over and over on your posts here. Put your crack pipe down and go to bed. Here it is ..............................

The Axis grew out of the Anti-Comintern Pact, an anti-communist treaty signed by Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan in 1936.

Now go to bed. Your credibility is down to ZERO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SoSick, your comment about always being correct is at best relative. One thing that is correct is your grade school mentality and vocabulary.

Yeah, I laughed at that, too!

I agree, best line in the article.

Cry me a river China!

I liked that too, i kept reading though. China is such a joke sometimes.

You won't laugh if someone who burned your house, killed your relatives, and maimed you 60 years ago and tell you that I will buy one of your son for a dollar. Well, Chinese was trying to get pass the history and be a friend with Japan, but all we got is this. How you would feel as a normal human being?

First,how can Japan buy islands from a Japanese "owner".When the islands didn't belong to him to begin with.

Second,Clinton never "sold" China nukes.China developed their own bomb in the 60's.

Third,there probably won't be a war over this.But if there was the Japanese would surely have to worry about those Chinese nukes.And the limitless army China could field.

Forth. historically the islands were China's until Japan seized them in the 1895 war.China has never accepted there loss.And any Japanese claim to them is spurious.

You won't laugh if someone who burned your house, killed your relatives, and maimed you 60 years ago and tell you that I will buy one of your son for a dollar. Well, Chinese was trying to get pass the history and be a friend with Japan, but all we got is this. How you would feel as a normal human being?

Americans have never been through this type of scorched earth, total war that Japan waged in China during WWII. The closest approximation would be Union General Grant's march to Atlanta during the Civil War and many southerners are STILL seething about it some 150 years later. As such, they simply can not comprehend why many Chinese are still angry about the Japanese government whitewashing history at every turn.This is also the reason why some Americans can be so chickenhawkish about going to war because it is someone else' son they're sending to a land far, far away, not their own backyard.

It's also amusing how so many Americans of today think of Japan in a buddy buddy fashion. During the 1970's and 80's, Japan was the export juggernaut that the U.S. citizenry and politicians were scared of, much like the China of today. Then there are those plentiful 'no gaijin (foreigner) allowed' establishments in Japan to this very day. Ignorance is bliss for these uninformed folks.

And Mongolia

Oh? Prove that Romney does not pay taxes. If you can't, then you are a liar/liberal...same thing.

Good point, they take over Tibet which is a pretty large area, cause they got no army, and that's fine fine fine. but lose a rock or two in the ocean and they get their wittle fewings hurt, NUKE EM!

NC-492358 are you aware it was his own father that set the precedent of releasing 10 years worth of tax returns if you intend to run for president .

Sosick.....We have a department of the federal government called the Internal Revenue Service. I'm sure that his tax returns have been thoroughly investigated and reviewed by that department in recent months. Obama would never leave that stone unturned. So put a sock in it please.

I dont make millions. I dont even break 6 digits and I wouldnt show you or anyone else my tax returns either. The way I figure it, most people that complain about the rich paying the lower tax rate from investments is just mad that they dont know how to do it themselves.

I find it inherently amusing that we, a nation of 236 years who has been throwing our military weight around the world for the better part of the last 60 years, is accusing China of imperialism, hell bent on conquering the world. This is the same China with 2200 years of dynastic history who actually had the military and economic capability to conquer large parts of the known world on many occasions during that span. The Han dynasty was arguably on the same economic and military level of their contemporary, the Roman Empire. Several hundred years later, the economic and military prowess of the Tang Dynasty drastically out-classed every other nation/state of their era. Another several hundred years go by and the Ming Dynasty became the preeminent naval power of its time, as demonstrated by Zheng He's massive expedition fleets going all the way to Africa. Yet through out this combined 900+ years of peak power, China didn't bother to conquer or colonized large swatches of the world. What a mystery.

In reality, China through out history is primarily obsessed with securing their own borders. They have always been known as a regional hegemon as opposed to a global hegemon like the British, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian or French empires of old, as well as the now defunct Soviet Union and America of today. This fear mongering of China out of conquer the world is pure lunacy. They wouldn't know what do even if they managed to conquered another continent.

It sure sounds like we have a lot of Americans who are just angry at the fact that someone dared to challenge our global primacy and not simply restrict themselves to a subservient role like the second class global citizen that they are.

Americans arn't imperialist. We usually just blow people up and then come home. Who knows why but we usually help pay to rebuild their countries. The people in power are nicer than I am.

Americans arn't imperialist. We usually just blow people up and then come home. Who knows why but we usually help pay to rebuild their countries. The people in power are nicer than I am.

When it comes to the America today, it is somewhat debatable. We maintain some 100-150 medium/large and over 500 smaller military installations/sites across the world. This visible power projection is eerily similar to the way that the British and Spanish empires used to do it except we aren't annexing entire countries to turn them into U.S. territory. Then there are those rather numerous convert attempts of installing pro-America governments, particularly in Central and Latin America which we considered to be our backyard. The side-effects of those activities are still causing us headaches and trust issues across the region today.

Historically however, there is little doubt that U.S. had at least some imperialistic designs at one point. More specifically, I'm referring to the period of mid 19th to early 20th century. To start, one may argue that the entire concept of Manifest Destiny as justification for the Mexican-American war was an imperialist policy. After that came the conquest of Hawaii, Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rico and other ceded territories such as Guam during the latter half of that period. It was also during this period that the U.S. participated in the eight-nation alliance which invaded China to put down the Boxer Rebellion and subsequently demanded equal access to the various foreign spheres of influence dotting the Chinese landscape.

The history of American imperialism/expansionism is far shorter and at times less aggressive or transparent but it was still there regardless. We just preferred to call it by a different name such as 'the world's policeman' in order to create a distinction where none really exists.

You are correct, but I would like to point out that many of those bases stem from treaty obligations from post WWII and/or the Cold War.

We are, in fact, legally responsible for the military defense of several countries; directly or indirectly. So yes, we do have many bases around the world. However, a lot of them are there because if the host countries would be attacked, we would be responsible for their defense.

cool, I'll steal your car

We should have listened to general Patton. He said lets keep going and take russia and china, but noooooooooooooooooooooooo we didn't listen.

Muff. Hehe....I said muff.

Who the f... cares what China thinks. Oh wait, Obama does.

more like, the Rommunist does.

Well see if China went by that rule, they'd just curb stomp Taiwan, those islands and definitively do so to Tibet, and then they'd possess them, thereby being 90% legitimate, according to what you just said. Clearly that's not the way the law goes if it's China doing the possessing.

All this being said, I'm interested to know who the private owner was. Inflammatory detail left out.

That also being said, if I own my home and the land around it, can I then sell it to the country I see wants to buy it?

I'm pretty sure that's not legal in my own country.

o.O Those are my questions about this.

They can't even give a good quality of life in all their vast territories, but they want more...------------------------------------------------this is why the japanese invaded other Asian countries in the Second world war,you think other countries can not give good quality of life in their own territories,then you have reason to invade and rob......pervert under gentleman coat

Tony............. It's a whole new world since the end of WW2.

Japan is a far different country. China has changed far less. I don't think Japan is interested in attacking anyone in this age. However, for China declaring ownership of strategic islands just minutes from Japan's shores.................... NO WAY BUDDY!!!!!!!!

Haven't you seen the chopped up heads of Tibet Monks by Chinese troops recently??? Wake up.

And why did Japan invade the U. S.? Our quality of life was fine. Japan was just power crazy and as conceited as a country can be. They thought they were the best and could do whatever the he!! they wanted to. I think we showed them that they were incorrect, though. Now we need to show them again. They need to stop whaling. Now.

SoSick........ Uh, I think your history is a little off. Japan saw their economy headed for ruins if they didn't do something about US economic policy of the time. So, they sided with the Axis powers and attacked. Even today US economic policy is destructive to some nations that would attack us if they could.

Japanese were our allies in WW1.

I agree with your whaling issues, but look what our gov't is allowing Big Oil to do here on our own soil. They are likely destroying our ground water by "fracking."

Judge NOT lest Ye be judged.

13............I think YOU had better read up on your history. They weren't part of the Axis when they attacked Pearl Harbor.

I just farted on a canoli and gained the interest of more people than this crap article.

Not on paper at the time....... but we are pretty sure Hitler and the Axis powers liked what Japan was doing. "Sided with" does not necessarily mean a document was involved.

We try to keep posts short here so people will read them. Extreme detail is not a good idea.

13.........Extreme detail is not important when you're unfamiliar with the facts, that's true. It's called making sh!t up. Hitler wasn't even with the Axis at that time.

"We" try to keep posts short here? OMG I didn't know you owned this site. Go get a different one. I like details.

SoSick, You are one piece of RIDICULOUS CAKE with no bounds of lunacy. You say that Japan was NOT part of the Axis powers when Japan attacked US forces in WW2.

YOU ARE FLAT DEAD WRONG......... as you have been over and over on your posts here. Put your crack pipe down and go to bed. Here it is ..............................

The Axis grew out of the Anti-Comintern Pact, an anti-communist treaty signed by Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan in 1936.

Now go to bed. Your credibility is down to ZERO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hitler liked what the japanese were doing so much in fact, that he called them yellow aryans, lmao

All your base are belong to us.

Geez Tony, You are living in the past. Japan is a great ally of the USA and the FREE WORLD. China is trying to own the world................ Just like Hitler!!!!!!!!!

What?

Japan is no one's ally. They'll show their true colors soon, just like they did in WWII. They take whatever they want, even if it's not theirs. And then they lie about it. They fish illegally all over the world.

NObody remembers that the evil Japs are not trustworth! They LIED to Americans when they wanted a peace agreement and attacked us when we were asleep

AND they fish illegally all over the world

+2 internets

Japan is a very strong ally and we have many similar traits and everything you guys are listing is something the U.S does this very day. In fact any country would do that if they had the opportunity, don't think the U.S is all high and mighty in morality when in fact we done some @!$%#ed up stuff too.

Plus they don't fish illegally, it's international waters, they don't have to follow rules listed by other countries and they are doing that because that is their way of life, eating seafood is like Americans eating beef.

If anything you guys are living in the past, that happen over 70 years ago i bet none you were even around in that time.

It's not international waters that they fish in idiot. Ask Australia. Ask any country with a coastline. They steal fish everywhere.

And yes, you fricking idiot, I was around at that time. Do you ever talk about high school? Then you're living in the past too. Idiot.

My My SoSick. Name calling is what people do when they are wrong in their argument. In the world of civil debate people know they have won when their opponent begins use name calling and abusive tirades.

You lose. Divine is right.

They do fish in international waters, so if one boat goes into Australia coast and everyone is all hurt they are stealing the fish when in fact fish travel freely between waters and are own by no one. Plus they don't show everyone else stealing fish, just Japan, when in fact everyone is doing it. When you are fishing you follow those fish and you don't care about other countries coastline, because you don't pay attention to that.

The second comment makes no sense, if you were around at the time didn't you grow up by a better standard? Cursing and swearing at me for no reason and calling me a idiot is no way to argue your point and shows that you are probably not seventy years old.

I like how you liked your comment to try and make it so someone agreed with you.

13.........No, Divine isn't right. Not factually. I don't say things if they're not true. That's what debating is about, facts. It's so sad you didn't know that.

Divine...........Cursing and swearing? You don't even know the meaning of those words.

Can you leave one comment without being wrong about something? You don't even know the definition of International waters. And the difference between those and waters that belong to countries. That makes you an idiot when you comment on things you know nothing about. Fish travel freely between waters? That has nothing to do with what we're discussing, but you're such an idiot you don't know that. And everyone is not doing it. And if they were................would that make it right? I know, I know, to you it would.

How come you treat him with some respect but yet you verbally assault me?

You said fricking that is another word for the F word, so yes i do know what those words are.

Can you leave one comment without being totally American bias?

I do know what international waters are and mean.

As i said in my comment a Japanese boat happens to travel from international water into another countries coastal waters, happens to be fishing and it makes the front page in every environmental magazine.

Yes fish traveling between water has everything to do with this, the Japanese are following the fish or whales, if it happens to enter another counties coastline it doesn't matter, because they were initially following them from the start in international waters or their coastal waters, so they are using a loophole that is totally legal.

Everyone does this, we fish Tuna in Japanese coastline or territory, yet they don't complain. It's not illegal for them to fish whale, because they don't follow other countries rules and regulations, they have their own.

And yes if everyone is doing it does make it right for that country, we did this in the past, yet we are holding the Japanese up to respond in a way we want them too. Whether that way be right is based solely on perspective. That way is not fishing whales and they don't have to listen to us, just like China is burning insane amounts of fossil fuels, damaging their air and going to possibly make global warming ten times worse if they continue like we did in the past without any regulations. They won't listen to us because it will hurt their economic development.

Gee, Tony you really think the problem can be solved that quickly?

Instigate? Japan isn't doing anything wrong. China is just bitter.

You are an idiot. China tries to bully its neighbors and others into submission. Fortunately for the rest of the world China's cultural memory regarding war is one of continual defeat.

LOL, probably not the right time to start a nuclear war. China is about 30 years away from becoming a real force and Japan knows it.

Maybe power does not come from barrel of gun.....yet

It's never the right time to start a nuclear war and it should never come to that. Except i most certainly believe Iran is going to @!$%# that all up.

Let's use America as a standard, and then look at all the illegal acts and war crimes commited taking that land. China is a good stuend of ours it seems.

Leftrightcenter,

You are correct. You should leave this nasty old America now and live in China.

leftrightcenter

get out of my United States [ and learn how to spell...]

NC and Michael...........You must both be Republicraps. They are the only ones who cannot "win" a conversation without telling someone to leave the U.S. Losers. The U.S. doesn't belong to you two ditzes.

Miss.M................People have been killed for lots less. And ideas are more important than spell check. Use you brain. I use mine all the time.

@So Sick Of - That's funny!

On the upside, it would help with the over-population problem.

Spoken like an American "wannabe".

Redemptionblue

Now you sound like an ignorant ass. Anyone who is biased is a dumb ass. Where are you from?

Japan took it after the first Sino-Japanese War in the 1894. Then Japan sold it to a private Japanese owner in the 1930's. As it took the land in 1894, it should have given it back to China, whether Taiwan ROC or mainland PRC after Cairo declaration to end WWII. However, wester powers in the San Fransico Treaty, didn't include ROC or PRC China and gave the islands to US for temporary guardianship instead. Then USA gave it to Japan in 1970's.

This private Japanese owner is only allowed to sell the islands to Japan so even if China want to buy it back, it could not.

Thus this entire problem is an extention of China and Japan problem for 100 years as well as a legacy of a wrongful act at the hands of western powers after WWII.

LOL, that is a stupid statement. Its just like saying if you are a landowner in Florida and decide to sell a piece of land to a Jap, Japs get it ahahahhaha

jsmith......... are you trying to say that hasn't already happened in America?

How much of America does China currently own? Geezzz-OH-Mighteeee

Foreigners may own pieces of US land but that does not make that land part of their country.

Correct! These islands were on China maps for centuries until they were taken over by Japs when they captured Taiwan and hundreds of other islands during ww2. The Russians have the same problem but they did not get resistance when they disputed their islands and Putin visited them.

China needs to get tough and make a deal with Putin

Owner is not allowed to sell land to another government outside of Japan. When the major of Tokyo, the famous right wing Ishihara want to buy, he is buying under the local government flag. China has no chance to bid even if they wanted to

And how long ago was Pearl Harbor? Oh yes over 70 years ago.

So What? Why do you think AMERICA disarmed the Japs at the end of WW2????? Thousands of Americans died at Pearl Harbor you dumb azz!

Well then the jews should be getting over the holocaust already too then.

"Evil Japs" Are you 90 years old? WHy don't you just call them, "Grinning yellow devils?" Clearly, you learned history from watching old war movies.

And the the USA bombed TWO places in Japan. Killing even more people, also you do know the US is friends with Japan now?

At least I learned world history and dont read comic books or Manga comics like you dumb azz who know nothing about what happened when the evil Japs and Nazis killed over 30 million people in the world

Remember, China was our ally but nobody wants to remember that because its much easier to be racist and bash China

Go ask the Jews to forget about Hitler and tell them who cares?????

LOL

Okay racist? Said the pot to the kettle.

MissM......................if you ever make the 70 year mark, you'll see how short a time that is. You are such an ignorant person. Read a little history sometime. I know, I know, you have to learn how to read first. It'll keep you busy. Maybe for the next 70 years.

If I live that long but forget to move on in life, well I hope I die before that. Also it was a nice burn at the end.

Those of you using the term "Evil Japs." You are PATHETIC, probably very OLD and as "close-minded" as people can become.

What do you guys have to say about the systematic butchering of Native Americans by the US government.................? and the taking of their homelands, putting them on reservations and giving them disease infested clothes and blankets.

How about the abuse, torture and death inflicted on black slaves in the good ole USA?

There is an UGLY side to almost every culture and nation in this world at some point in history. Dredging up past atrocities only serves to keep the hate alive and suppresses healing.

240,000+ Japanese were killed over the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I'm not one to compare lives, but I would say it more than compensated for the attack on Pearl Harbor.

One could debate history and morals until the end of time, but why here? This is an article about Japan buying some islands that China probably deems a lucrative resource. You think if, by some chance, war betweeen China and Japan eventually breaks out over this event historians will reference back and say, "You know those trolls, in the msn article, really had their finger on the pulse of trending world events..." rofl

Oh and I second your sentiment exactly 13dew.

So glad my "evil Jap" uncles fought in the US Army in WWII for sorry suckers like you, jsmithzzzzzzz.

They were better Americans than you'll ever be.

You dont make any *(*(*& sense, you go home and read your history books and then go to walmart and check who owns that place: a White American man named Sam Walton who buys all the "inferior products" and check the Apple Store and learn that a White American named Steve Jobs who built all his factories in China because Americans dont want to work but want to get food stamps from Obama

wow.........there is an american who has courage to point out. Thank for your decent. Japanese is the only who's never face to the fact and history, and never plead guilty in the world war II even they signed" the potsdam proclamation". (talk about this issues , people should know history and to get the whole picture).Today Janpanese leaders still pay homage to yasukuni jinjia where Dedicated to class - A war criminals each year. they still paead guilty as 'comfort women' ,holocaust..........
talk about this issues people might read Article 8th supplementary provisions of <the potsdam proclamation>. Then things would be clear.
"WE COULD FORGIVE BUT WOULD NEVER FORGET" that part of history at least people whos have been through that tragedy, some of them are still alive.

jsmithzzzzz: Then Nixon decided communist China would be more beneficial to business and world peace. Which has continued to this day under our corporations request for cheap products and labor. Since that time our cost of products (INFLATION) has increased a thousand fold, while supposed cost decreased by hundreds of percent. You figure it out, food stamps or famine. I guess your a big fan of the workers party. What a great American you are.

Your derogatory term referring to the japanese people and twisting of this comment board, in other posts, to become some debate about republicans/democrats/obama only furthers proof of your ingnorance.

You are a private landowner, if you sold to a Cuban national, can you wave your receipt at the US government and tell them to *(&(& offf???

sounds stupid to me

If the Chinese had a chance at the deal they would have messed it up with a goofy lowball offer.

The Chinese haven't played their "American Treasury Bond" card yet.....if they did, our nation would be in deep **** and go into a depression

Obama is still spending........... $16,000,000,000,000 debt a ticking time bomb LOL
keep voting for Obama and his nonstop

His non-stop what? This article isn't about Obama or Romney anyway. Good for the Japanese!

Let's stop all spending and watch the rest of the country fall apart...no road maintenance, no police, fire dept. no teachers...when the wealthy folks quality of life starts to suffer losing their BMW's in potholes the size of semis and falling through crumbling bridges i bet the taxes go up, but i also bet that they don't go up on the wealthy.