2++ faces/perspectives on CHINA (ok, Japan 2, ok2 World3;)

From an event from a Chinese "expert" with goOd credetial;s to show as **** (BOLDED THUS by Desi), via The Star: Online)~~~

'Fear not China’s rise’

PETALING JAYA: China may overtake the United States as the biggest economic power in the next four to six years but this does not mean that it will instantly become the world's superpower, says a leading expert on China.

Dr Martin Jacques, 67, author of the global bestseller When China Rules the World: the End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order, said it would take several decades, from between 2030 and 2040, before it could even achieve developed state status.

“It'd be a long way to go as a superpower,” he said at a talk on “China As Global Superpower: What It Means For Asia and The World”, hosted by the Asian Centre for Media Studies, based in Menara Star.

The second edition of his book was released recently and 40% of its content was new.

“This includes an extensive chapter analysing events after the 2008 financial crisis,” he said.

Expert on China: Dr Jacques presenting a talk hosted by the Asian Centre for Media Studies at Menara Star.

His first was shortlisted for two major literary awards.

Dr Jacques said Westerners were fearful of China's rise due to scant knowledge and understanding of China and that it was a communist country.

They fear the country might throw its weight and its military power around.

However, Dr Jacques pointed out that China had no major interest in developing military power after Deng Xiaoping took over the country from the late 1970s to 1990s.

On fears that a communist country was not democratic, he argued that being democratic had not stopped Europeans from conquering others.

“Although China has a lot of problems now, it doesn't mean that it can't be humane and more democratic,” said Dr Jacques.

“Maybe, it will develop universal suffrage without following the Western way.”

Dr Jacques pointed out that the China Development Bank and China Export-Import Bank gave loans of more than US$110bil (RM338.415bil) to other developing countries in 2009 and 2010 while the World Bankonly made loan commitments of US$100.3bil (RM307.65bil).

****Dr Jacques, a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the London School of Economics (University of London), visiting professor at Tsinghua University, Beijing, and Fellow at the Transatlantic Academy, Washington DC, was the former editor of Marxism Today, deputy editor of The Independent and a co-founder of the think tank Demos.


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From aljazeera.com:):):~~~~~

Japan vows no compromise on islands row

Yoshihiko Noda, Japan's prime minister, says the islands are an integral part of the country's territory. Last Modified: 27 Sep 2012 13:26 inShare1 Email Print Share Feedback

Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has insisted that there could be no compromise with China on the ownership of a disputed island chain and denounced attacks on Japanese interests. "So far as the Senkaku islands are concerned, they are an integral part of our territory in the light of history and of international law," Noda told reporters at the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, referring to an archipelago in the East China Sea that China knows as Diaoyu. "It is very clear and there are no territorial issues as such. Therefore there cannot be any compromise that could mean any setback from this basic position. I have to make that very clear," he told reporters. "The resolution of this issue should not be by force, but calmly, through reason and with respect for international law." China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi told his Japanese counterpart Koichiro Gemba at the United Nations on Tuesday that Japan had been guilty of "severely infringing" its sovereignty, according to Beijing's foreign ministry. "The Chinese side will by no means tolerate any unilateral action by the Japanese side on the Diaoyu Islands," Yang told Gemba, according to his office. Tense talks A Japanese official in New York confirmed that the talks had been "severe," but noted the two sides had agreed to maintain a dialogue. China has accused Japan of "severe infringement" The dispute erupted into an angry war of words between Beijing and Tokyo after the Japanese government took the previously privately-held islands into public ownership, but Noda insisted this move had been misinterpreted. "Part of the Senkaku islands that was held by a private citizen was transferred to governmental possession in order to ensure the stable management of it," he said, according to an official translation. "It is not a new acquisition. It was held under the private ownership of a Japanese citizen and was a transfer of ownership within Japanese law," he said, adding: "We have explained this to China at length." "But it seems that China has yet to understand that and, because of that lack of understanding, there has been an attack or acts of violence and destruction against Japanese citizens and property there," he complained. Victor Gao from the National Association of International Studies in Beijing told Al Jazeera that no one on the Chinese side wanted to see an escalation in tensions. But Gao blamed what he called “adventurous steps" taken by Japan, including the nationalisation of the islands. “If Prime Minister [Noda] thinks that the Japanese actions will not have consequences he is completely wrong,” Gao said. “If he wants to provoke a war then he would have good company.” Economic price The attacks on Japanese factories and businesses have ostensibly been carried out spontaneously by patriotic crowds, but such protests are usually tightly policed in China, leading to suspicions of official collusion. Noda refused to be drawn on whether Japan would demand compensation from China for the damage, but the economic toll of the dispute between two of the world's biggest trading partners is mounting daily. Shortly before the Japanese premier spoke, Japanese airline All Nippon Airways (ANA) revealed that 40,000 reservations had been canceled on its Japan-China flights until November. And Japanese auto giants Toyota and Nissan said they would cut production in China because demand for Japanese cars has been hit by the row. Japanese envoys in New York said they could see no reason why sovereignty over the islands should be in doubt, but Noda said Japan would be confident of victory if the case were referred to the International Court of Justice. The Japanese delegation provided reporters with copies of documents that it said supported Tokyo's claim to the islands, including copies of Chinese maps from 1932 and 1960 that mark them as Japanese territory. In a complicated three-way dispute, Taiwan also claims ownership of the chain. South Korea and Japan, meanwhile, dispute the sovereignty of another island, known in Japan as Takeshima, but administered from Seoul. Chinese government ships have sailed into waters around the disputed islands in recent days in an apparent bid to assert sovereignty, but there was no sign of them in the area Wednesday, according to Japanese coast guards. And on Tuesday, coast guard vessels from Japan and Taiwan dueled with water cannon after dozens of Taiwanese fishing boats escorted by patrol ships sailed into waters around the Tokyo-controlled islands for several hours.

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From chinadaily.com.cn:):)~~~~

China slams Japan's obstinacy over Diaoyu Islands

Updated: 2012-09-27 15:13

( Xinhua)

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BEIJING - China was outraged by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's remarks to reporters at the UN General Assembly, and has urged Japan to cease immediately all actions that infringe China's territorial integrity and sovereignty.

"China is strongly disappointed and sternly opposes the Japanese leader's obstinacy regarding his wrong position on the Diaoyu Islands issue," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said in a written statement on Thursday.

Qin's remarks came following Noda's insistence when responding to reporter's questions at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday that the Diaoyu Islands "are an integral part" of Japan's territory in light of history and of international law.

"China has sufficient historical evidence and legal basis to prove the Diaoyu Islands have been an inseparable part of Chinese territory since ancient times," Qin said, citing the fact that the Qing court was defeated in the Sino-Japanese War in 1895 and forced to sign the unequal Treaty of Shimonoseki and cede to Japan "the island of Formosa (Taiwan)," together with all islands appertaining or belonging to the said island of Formosa including the Diaoyu Islands.

After World War II, China took back all the territories that were invaded and occupied by Japan including Taiwan according to the international legal documents such as the Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation, Qin said, explaining that such a move indicates the Diaoyu Islands and its affiliated islands were returned to China's sovereignty in terms of international law.

"The Cairo Declaration and the Potsdam Proclamation are among the most important anti-fascist achievements and a significant basis for the post-war international order, and were publicly accepted by Japan in the Japanese Instrument of Surrender," Qin noted.

According to Qin, the Chinese government has voiced its stern opposition ever since the United States and Japan made backroom deals concerning the Diaoyu Islands, and never acknowledged such deals.

"The Chinese people made a huge sacrifice and remarkable contribution to the victory in the World Antifascist War; however, a defeated country wants to illegally occupy the territory of a victorious nation," Qin pointed out.

"Where is the justice?" he asked.

Japan's position and acts regarding the Diaoyu Islands issue gravely trample on the principles of the UN Charter. Their essence shows an inability to engage in introspection and thoroughly repent and condemn Japanese militarism's history of invasion. They are a gross attempt to deny the outcomes of the victory of the World Antifascist War and a dangerous challenge to the post-war international order. These actions call for a high degree of vigilance from the international community, Qin warned.

"The historical verdict can never be overturned. The disaster and sufferings brought about by World War II shall never be forgotten. The peace and security order maintained by the United Nations cannot be undermined, and generally acknowledged international truths and human conscience shall never be challenged," Qin stressed.

He reiterated that Japan's "purchase" of the Diaoyu Islands is totally illegal and invalid and will never change the historical facts of Japan's illegal occupation of Chinese territory,  and therefore China's sovereignty over the islands.

Qin said the will and resolve of the Chinese government and its people to safeguard its national territorial sovereignty is unshakeable and Japan will never succeed in its illegal scheme.

"In consideration of both history and international law, the Japanese side should immediately cease all actions that infringe China's territorial sovereignty, instead of making one mistake after the other and deceiving the world," Qin demanded.


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BIG BROTHER US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also weighs in -- whose side do you think the Americans are on? Hey, in BIG power or domestic politics, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS BEING NEUTRAL. We all have our inclinations to the left, right, front or behind. YES, IT"S SO DIFFICULT TO STAND "UPRIGHT" (< translation from NEUTRAL, RITE?) ~~ YL, Desi, knottyaSsusual

US urges 'cooler heads' to preserve Asia's stability

by Jo Biddle, Agence France-Presse

Posted at 09/28/2012 11:07 AM | Updated as of 09/28/2012 11:07 AM

NEW YORK - The United States on Thursday called for cooler heads to prevail amid regional tensions over disputed island chains, saying it was vital for the world economy to preserve stability in Asia.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton held a series of meetings with Asian leaders, including talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi, and then separate discussions with the foreign ministers of all countries belonging to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
The stakes are high with simmering tensions between China and Japan over disputed islands in the East China Sea, and a separate row over another archipelago in the South China Sea.
"I think it would be fair to say that all Asian leaders understand that this is the cockpit of the global economy," a senior State Department official said.
"With the United States still recovering, with Europe in a profound slowdown... it is essential that we maintain peace and stability in Asia," he added.
Tensions have escalated in the South China Sea with the Philippines and Vietnam accusing China of stepping up harassment of their fishermen and ships in a bid to exert Beijing's claims to virtually all of the strategic waterway.
ASEAN foreign ministers in July failed for the first time in the bloc's 45-year history to produce a joint communique at annual talks amid divisions over whether to stand up to China over the South China Sea row.
Brunei, which next year will serve as the ASEAN chair, is one of six nations with various claims -- some of them overlapping -- over the South China Sea, through which around half of the world's commercial cargo is transported.
Clinton has pushed for ASEAN and China to agree on a code of conduct that would manage disputes and prevent incidents at sea from escalating into full-blown conflicts.
The State Department official said ASEAN leaders had described initial talks with China as "important, informal interactions. Positive. Still early phases, but I think initially encouraging."
"The ASEANs are I think encouraged by this beginning set of interactions with China. We want it to take shape and go forward."
China is also embroiled in a dispute with Japan over an archipelago in the East China Sea that Beijing knows as the Diaoyu islands and Tokyo calls the Senkaku.
Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi late Thursday accused Japan of stealing the disputed islands as he took the bitter territorial dispute to the UN General Assembly.
"They can in no way change the historical fact that Japan stole" the Diaoyu islands, Yang said in a speech.
In Clinton's meeting earlier with her Japanese counterpart Yang, she "again urged that cooler heads prevail. That Japan and China engage in dialogue to calm the waters," another senior State Department official said.
"We believe that Japan and China have the resources, have the restraint, have the ability to work on this directly and take tensions down. And that is our message to both sides."
On Thursday, China criticized Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda for his "obstinate persistence" after he insisted there could be no compromise with Beijing on the ownership of Diaoyu islands.
Noda had said on Wednesday that the islands were "an integral part" of Japanese territory "in the light of history and of international law."
Clinton and Yang met in a New York hotel on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly and for what a US official described as a "very full meeting."
They also talked about issues concerning the South China Seas, North Korea, human rights in China and Tibet and bilateral economic relations.
Yang met on Tuesday with his Japanese counterpart Koichiro Gemba, holding what was described as "stern talks" on the bitterly disputed islands but made no breakthrough, diplomats said.
China has been infuriated by the Japanese government's move to buy the East China Sea islands from a private owner.
Japan and China have disputed the islands for decades, but tensions flared again in recent weeks leading to street protests in Chinese cities.
Chinese government ships have sailed into waters around the disputed islands in recent days, along with vessels from Taiwan, which also claims the islands.