Chinese newspaper warns of military fray with Japan

January 11, 2013 china-defense-mashup.com

2013-01-11 — The Chinese government-run Global Times has warned of a potential clash between the military arms of Japan and China as the tension increases between the two countries in their territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands. This came a day after Chinese jets entered into Japan’s air defense identification zone on the sea, north of the islands, prompting Japanese F-15 fighter jets to take off from their Naha base in Okinawa Prefecture and check the area.

The paper’s editorial said that the military clash is highly probable and that the citizens need to prepare for the worst. It proceeds to state that the Chinese people are waiting on their government to take concrete actions “against Japan’s provocations”, pertaining to Japan’s dispatch of jets over an area near the Senkaku Islands, which China refers to as Diaoyu.

Chinese administration official Liu Caigui was quoted by the official Xinhua News Agency to have said that China will continue to be firm in its opposition of infringement committed by its neighboring countries as to territories that China claims to be hers. According to him, “Faced with a sharper and more complicated situation, we will take more responsibilities to steadfastly maintain the country’s maritime rights and interests.”