China, China Taiwan and Japan are readying themselves for a major showdown over the Diao-Yu Islands (釣魚島) . The Chinese character " 釣" means “to angle", " 魚" means "fish"。 The Diao-Yu island is literally a place where the Chinese have been angling fish since ancient times. O ne can view these islands from Google Earth. The screenshot below clearly shows that the Diao-Yu islands are on thecontinentalshelf of China. The direct distance from mainland China to Diao-Yu is only about 200 some miles. One may have heard that the US government referring to the Diao-Yu island as Senkaku Island. But that is a mistake. The official Japanese name for Diao-Yu island (釣魚島) is Yu-Diao island (魚釣島) . As you can see, the Japanese just switched the order of the two Chinese characters, from 釣魚 to 魚釣 . On ancient Chinese maps, the words are written from right to left. Apparently, the Japanese took a Chinese map and read it from left to right when they annexed the Diao-Yu island in 1895. It wasn't surprising that the Japanese didn't invent a new name for the island, most of Japanese around the time did not even have surnames and the written language of Japan was essentially Chinese. To verify that the official Japanese name for Diao-Yu Island is indeed Yu-Diao Island, we can check with the "Geospatial Information Authority of Japan" at www.gsi.go.jp . The following screenshot shows that the Japanese name for Chinese " 釣魚島" is indeed " 魚釣島"。This is a significant point. The word "Senkakus" give an impression that Japan named the island independently. We now know that is untrue. The name "Senkakus", which did not appeal until 1900, is what Japanese calls the group of islands around Diao-Yu. Historical records show that China had administered the Diao-Yu islands since the Ming Dynasty, long before Japanese seized them in 1895 as a booty of its war against China. After Japanmade its sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, China and US became allies in a common struggle against Japanese imperialism. Many Americans died in the war against Japan. When Japan surrenderedunconditionallyin 1945, it fully accepted the PotsdamDeclaration and the Cairo Declaration.The latter states that " all the territories Japan has stolen from the Chinese, such as Manchuria, Formosa, and The Pescadores, shall be restored to the Republic of China. Japan will also be expelled from all other territories which she has taken by violence and greed." See, http://www.ndl.go.jp/constitution/e/shiryo/01/002_46/002_46tx.html . Consistently, the Potsdam Declaration issued by U.S., China and Britain dictates that "The terms of the Cairo Declaration shall be carried out and Japanese sovereignty shall be limited to the islands of Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu, Shikoku and such minor islands as we determine." Minor islands are those smaller than two square kilometers. Neither the Diao-Yu island nor the Ryukyu Islands are minor islands and therefore are not part of Japan under Potsdam. Moreover, as we have seen above, Japan stole the Diao-Yu islands from China in 1895, and must return them to China under the mandate of the Cairo Declaration. In view of the history, Japan's nationalization of the Diao-Yu Islands thus poses a grave challenge to the verdict of the Second World War and constitutes a disruption of the postwar world order. Japan's rekindled militarism has crossed the red line and will not be tolerated by China. A Sino-Japan conflict isinevitable. The position taken by United States will determine whether there coming conflict will be localized within the western pacific or will become the prelude to World War III. The Americans and Chinese should cherish their old friendship and work together to stop Japan's neo-militarism. While some Americans may have forgotten Pearl Harbor, the Japanese surely remember Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Japanese are not your ordinary friend. If they acquire adequateweaponry, they won't be very sentimental on using it to avenge the two atomic bombs, and they aren't afraid of dying . Americans ought to be cautious. China and Japan had engaged in blood feud long before the white people settled in America. It will be tragic if the Americans are dragged into the China-Japan conflict. Many Chinese are already suspicious of America's role in the current dispute. No one is threatening the world with nuclear destruction over Diao-Yu Islands. However, escalation of the Diao-Yu Island dispute could lead to large scale devastation over vast areas. Americans nuked Japan twice over Pearl Harbor, killing over 100,000 Japanese with instant vaporization or lingering radiation diseases. Now, imagine what would be in people's minds if Japan slaughtered 30 million people, including women and children. That didn't happen to America but did happen to China. That is why Diao-Yu Islands conflict may eventually trigger unprecedented levels of destruction. China is a nuclear power. Current estimate puts China's stockpile at around three thousand thermonuclear warheads. It would be unwise for anyone to side with a former axis power and bear the brunt of Chinese justice. Americans better stay out of that age-old life-and-death struggle and live their happy lives as bystanders.
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