Sunday, November 07, 2010

Chinese Fishing Boat Collides with Japanese Coast Guard Vessel



I am looking for translators to translate this post into German and Tagalog. Email me if you are interested.

Spanish translation (en Español). Norwegian translation (på norsk). French translation (en Français).


This is a new viral video that was just leaked to the Internet on November 7, 2010. It shows a Chinese fishing boat deliberately colliding with a Japanese coast guard vessel on September 7 off the Senkaku Islands.

The islands are located northeast of Taiwan and southwest of the Ryukyu Islands of which Okinawa is a part. They have long been held by Japan. The US administered the islands as part of the Ryukyus until 1972 when they were given back to Japan. Since then, they have been claimed by Japan, China and Taiwan.

The dispute over the islands is a major problem between Japan and China and between Japan and Taiwan. There is natural gas in the region, so this has heightened the conflict.

No one lives on the islands. The largest island, Diaoyu Dao or Uotsuri Jima, has some rare species, including the Senkaku mole or the Mugeri Uchidai, and the Okinawa-kuro-oo-ari ant. The mole has become rare due to goats being imported to the island in 1978. The goats now number 300, and they need to be killed off.

The leaked video was not supposed to have been released. It was probably released by someone on board the Japanese Coast Guard vessel. Since the video was released, there have been nationalist rallies in Japan over the incident.

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