In order to secure a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe agreed to a significant concession in Tokyo’s ongoing dispute with China over the Senkaku Islands, according to Japanese media outlets.I'd been sitting on it for a couple of days because I just couldn't believe even the Japanese, who have been notoriously incompetent in presenting the historical reality of the Senkakus, could do something that dumb. Looked like the usual depressing move by diplomats facing Chinese intransigence to make a permanent concession for a temporary gain. But fortunately the Nelson Report, the DC insider report, did some digging and concluded:
Hummm...but upon reading, it develops this is just a rehash of the original Tokyo media speculation which our GOJ sources then, and again today, reject in every particular.So it never happened.
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Michael, Thanks for the clarification. I thought there must be something lost in translation. Japan "caving" didn't make sense to me. But that Diplomat article certainly generatde a lot of speculation and poster response!
ReplyDeleteWe know that the Japanese can be very very polite but at the same time be confrontational and combatant. flower and sword thing. This can cause a misinterpretation of their diplomatic language.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy the Diplomat at times but it really lacks a sense of credibility. No serious publication of its kind should write articles based on a completely unsubstantiated rumor.
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