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| China-Japan-Koreas |
| S. Korea's Lee visits disputed islets despite Japan's protests |
| 2012-08-12 |
| South Korean President Lee Myung-bak paid a landmark visit Friday to a set of disputed islets claimed by both South Korea and Japan, an unprecedented trip that raised Tokyo's ire. The president visited the lonely East Sea outcroppings known as Dokdo here and Takeshima in Japan after a stop on the nearby Ulleung Island, some 90 kilometers west of the disputed islets, according to his office. A self-professed pragmatist, Lee had largely avoided clashing headlong with Japan on outstanding historical issues even when the public sentiment at home dictated otherwise. The trip, which made Lee the first South Korean leader to set foot on the islets coveted for rich mineral resources in its surrounding waters, came only four months before voters elect his successor. It also came just a few days before South Korea celebrates the 67th anniversary of its independence from the Japanese colonial rule. Lying equidistant between South Korea and Japan, the sparsely inhabited islets have been a chronic source of diplomatic row. |
| Posted by:Pappy |
| #4 Nippon is repor willing to take its Dokdo/ Takeshima issue wid the ROK before the UNO. See also TOPIX > IN ASIA, A WAVE OF ESCALATING TERRITORIAL DISPUTES. Again, China sees itself as a "post-US", de facto future World #1 vee the "weak/declining" USA - IT WANTS OVERSEAS PLA MILBASES BEFITING SUCH THROUGHOUT THE SO-CALLED "FIRST ISLAND CHAIN" [+ ultimately beyond], AND ITS N-O-T GETTING IT. China's growing influence in CAMBODIA is upsetting the ASEAN Nations + major Nuclear Powers because, in part, it puts China + PLA in a LT position to strategically dominate iff not outright control the entire Straits of Malaccas + entrance into Eastern Indian Ocean. Also read, SSSSSSHHHHHH ...CCCCCCC the bulk or whole of SE Asia, MAINLAND + MARITIME. --------- * Also from TOPIX > CHINA ASSERTS SEA CLAIM WID POLITICS AND SHIPS. "Panda" = "Fish" = "Chow Mein" Diplomacy. * SAME > CHINA CLAIMS/LAYS SOVEREIGNTY ON 80% OF DISPUTED SEA. The Percentage is significantly higher iff one includes claims to UW Seafloors ala "Continental Shelf" Diplomacy. versus * SAME > AS SEVERE STORMS OVERWHELEM CHINA'S INFRASTRUCTURE, EXPERTS WARN THAT CLIMATE CHANGE WILL MAKE THE PROBLEM WORSE. * RELATED SAME > BEIJING: CLIMATE CHANGE WILL BRING MORE HEAVY RAINS TO CHINA. TRUE - but Beijing must continue to bear in mind that perennial lack of OWG Govts-Perts consensus as per "PEAK RESOURCES/ENVIRONMENT" can potentially have serious, perhaps even catastrophic, impact or consequences on its "Post-US", "MANIFEST DESTINY". |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2012-08-12 23:26 |
| #3 For those not Googley inclined... "The islets of Langerhans are the regions of the pancreas that contain its endocrine (i.e., hormone-producing) cells." |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2012-08-12 11:47 |
| #2 A medical joke from Steve, which brings back memories of peering through a microscope at human tissue samples I had stained in the lab and which looked nothing like they were supposed to. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2012-08-12 04:25 |
| #1 Lots of disputed islands, shoals and kelp beds in the surrounding waters. The big showdow will be over who gets the Islets of Langerhans. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2012-08-12 02:25 |