Tokyo sends warplanes to Senkaku / Diaoyu islands
Tokyo (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Japan has sent warplanes, after a Chinese aircraft entered the airspace of the Senkaku / Diaoyu, a group of islands claimed by Tokyo and Beijing.
The Japanese government announced
that a group of F-15 jets were sent to the area shortly after 11 this morning
(local time).
For
several months, Tokyo and Beijing have been contending the sovereignty of this
group of islands in the East China Sea, sending ships, coastguards and fishing
vessels to the area. But
this is the first time that the tug of war has included the airspace.
In
China, there have been fierce patriotic demonstrations with assaults on
Japanese diplomatic and commercial centers, and a boycott of products made in
Japan.
The uninhabited islets were
occupied by Japan in 1895 because they were considered terra nullius, nobody's
territory. And, in fact, in
the past China has never complained. Since
1970's the possibility of endless oil and gas reserves in the subsoil has been
touted. Immediately
following this discovery, Beijing began a diplomatic struggle for the return of
the Senkaku (Diaoyu or) to China.
The
group of islands seems to have a strategic
value for the control of the Pacific Ocean and its waters are rich in fish.
In
2008, as a gesture of detente, the two governments signed an agreement for
joint research and the exploitation of the archipelago, which, however, has
never been acted on.
Today's showdown falls on the day
of the 75th anniversary of the Nanjing Massacre, when Japanese forces occupying
a part of China entered the then capital and killed hundreds of thousands.
Japan
continues to ask for a legal and diplomatic solution to the dispute, Beijing
prefers shows of strength and patriotic demonstrations to claim sovereignty.
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