China Strikes Back: "Happy To Review World History" With Japan

On the heels of Shinzo Abe’s seeming hyprocrisy in Davos, commenting that “if peace and stability were shaken in Asia, the knock-on effect for the entire world would be enormous,” while he raises military budget, antagonizes China, and inflames the militaristic fervor in his own nation with war-crime shrine visits, the Chinese have struck back specifically at Abe’s comparison of China and Japan’s present tensions to Germany and Britain’s in 1914… Foreign Minister Wang Yi – writing from the Chinese Embassy in the US, warned:

*CHINA’S WANG CALLS ABE’S STATEMENT ON WW1 ‘ANACHRONISTIC’
*CHINA HAPPY TO REVIEW WORLD HISTORY WITH ABE: WANG YI
*CHINA WANTS ABE TO RETHINK OWN COMMENTS, ACTIONS: WANG YI

Adding that, as we warned last night (and described in great detail here), China and the US need to show mutual respect and avoid conflict and confrontation on the matter of Japan.

Yi warns…

*CHINA SAYS ABE ‘SHOULDN’T GO DOWN WRONG PATH’: WANG YI
*JAPAN REFUSES TO ADMIT THERE’S DISPUTE OVER ISLANDS: WANG YI
*CHINA WILL NEVER ALLOW FASCIST, MILITARIST IDEAS TO REVIVE: FM
*CHINA TO RESOLVE DISPUTES THROUGH DIALOG: WANG YI

Abe stokes the fire further with comparisons to WW1 at Davos… (via NY Times)

Historians and columnists have made comparisons between Britain and a rising Germany in 1914 and the current tensions between Japan and China; a hot topic at the start of the centenary year of World War I.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, in his appearance Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, raised the bar when he agreed with the thesis, saying that he saw a “similar situation” between now and then.

During a discussion with journalists, Mr. Abe said that the strong trade relations between Germany and Britain in 1914 were not unlike the economic interdependence today between Japan and China.

In 1914, economic self-interest failed to put a brake on the strategic rivalry that led to the outbreak of war, Mr. Abe said. He criticized the annual double-digit growth in China’s defense budget, calling it a source of instability in the Pacific region, an implicit comparison to Germany’s rapid build-up of arms before World War I.

And China responds…

Wang Yi: Promote the Settlement of Hot-Spot Issues in the Chinese Way

On January 22, 2014, Foreign Minister Wang Yi, at attendance to the Geneva II Conference on the Syrian issue in Montreux, Switzerland, talked to media about promoting the settlement of hot-spot issues in the “Chinese Way”.

Wang Yi said, as a permanent member of the UN Security Council, China shoulders responsibilities and obligations in maintaining world peace and stability, and is willing to play a constructive and responsible role in resolving regional hot spot issues. China has always adhered to the following principles in promoting the settlement of the Syrian issue and other hot-spot issues:

First, to firmly uphold the tenet of the UN Charter and the basic norms governing international relations, especially the principle of noninterference in internal affairs.

Second, to insist on promoting the settlement of the regional hot-spot issues under the framework of the UN, including on the basis of the relevant UN resolutions.

Third, to insist on resolving disputes through peaceful means. We oppose the use of force, and disapprove the overturning of legitimate government through illegal approach.

Fourth, to decide China’s position based on the rights and wrongs of things themselves, uphold justice, be objective and balanced, and never take advantage of the hot-spot issues for self interest.

Fifth, to respect the will of the people concerned, and try to guide for settlement acceptable to all parties involved.

The practice of China has its own characteristics. We care more about sustainability, doing things step by step, and fundamentally resolving problems.

This can be called the “Chinese way”.