Saturday, April 30, 2016

China Claims Okinawa

The Ryukyu Islands, as seen on a map at the Pacific Aviation Museum at Pearl Harbor. Samurai Wiki

Michael Peck, National Interest: China Claiming Okinawa Is Like Japan Claiming Hawaii

Unless you are nostalgic for the last two world wars, let's hope it’s nothing more than posturing.

Hawaii belongs to Japan, the Japanese press suddenly proclaims. Tokyo publishes ancient maps and documents that purport to show that the Hawaiian islands were historically part of the Japanese homeland until they were illegally annexed by the Americans. To hammer the point home, a Japanese warship sails into Hawaiian waters.

Does this sound totally insane? It's no more crazy than Chinese claims that the Ryukyu Islands—which include the island of Okinawa—belong to China rather than Japan.

Read more ....

WNU Editor: I have been covering this story for quite a long time ....

China Wants Okinawa (January 1, 2016)
More Chinese Claims That Okinawa Belongs To China (June 15, 2013)
China Continues To Lay Claims To Okinawa (May 16, 2013)

This is what I wrote early this year on this topic, and it still holds true today ....

These Chinese claims on the Ryukyu islands (Okinawa included) have been around for a long time. I even heard about it in the mid-1980s when I was working in China .... and even though I said that such claims were beyond ridiculous, my Chinese hosts were very blunt to me that these islands (like Taiwan) belong to them. 30 years later .... it looks like they are "upping" the pressure.

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