The Japanese Foreign Ministry uploaded this 87-second-long video clearly showing Japanese sovereignty over the disputed Liancourt Rocks (known as Takeshima in Japan and Dokdo in South Korea) and accusing South Korean (who has effective control over the said islands) of illegal occupation of a piece of Japanese territory. https://youtube/watch?v=TXg-NGVKuWI The video is accompanied by this webpage, making clear in no uncertain terms that Takeshima is Japans rightful territory under South Koreas illegal occupation: mofa.go.jp/mofaj/area/takeshima/index.html This video claims that Japan set up its dominium on the islets in the 17th century and it was reconfirmed in 1905, saying that South Korea has taken illegal control over these rocky outcroppings since 1952 when South Koreas first president Rhee Syngman drew the so-called Syngman Line. The ministry plans to translate the video into English, Korean and other languages. Predictably, the South Korean government didnt take it very well; it immediately lodged a strong protest with the Japanese government, calling the video a non-historical and anachronistic provocation, and demanded its immediate deletion: We strongly protest against the Japanese government trying to damage our dominium over the Dokdo islets as Japans Foreign Ministry produced a video that makes nonsensical claims on our territorial islets and distributed it on the Internet. Seoul made it clear that this video will hamper ongoing efforts to improve already strained bilateral relations. Earlier South Korea has released videos of its own showing its ownership over the Liancourt Rocks, which it plans to translate into all the 6 official languages of the UN. The director general of the South Korean Foreign Ministrys Northeast Asian Affairs Bureau, Park Joon-yong, summoned deputy chief Takashi Kurai of Japans mission in Seoul to protest, but Kurai reportedly told Park that South Koreas claims are unacceptable, and that the Liancourt Rocks are an integral part of Japans territory. At this time last year the former South Korean president Lee Myung-bak took the unprecedented step of making an official visit to these rocks on the sea, to which Japan reacted by recalling its ambassador from Seoul. There are some things here for #Pakistan to learn. Its Prime Minister did not cancel his meeting with his Indian counterpart after he hurled unacceptable #provocations at Pakistan on the platform of the UN General Assembly and uttered blasphemous profanities regarding #Kashmirs legal status and alleged Pakistani actions there in outright contravention of #InternationalLaw and established norms of diplomatic courtesy, and Nawaz Sharif refused to demand the immediate retraction of Indias nonsensical blurting and a formal apology for it. South Koreas current president Park Gun-hye broke her predecessors tradition by not visiting Japan as her second foreign destination upon coming into office after China precisely in a show of her displeasure at Japans positions on various core issues affecting their bilateral relations. By contrast, Nawaz Sharif now only met his Indian counterpart but also apparently visited the United States just for the sake of visiting that country when better sense should have prevailed. Though South Korea and Japans relations remain blighted due to unresolved legacies of things that happened a century ago, successive Pakistani governments keep trying to ingratiate themselves into New Delhis favor in spite of the latters constant obstructions of all hopes for peace and reconciliation over core issues relevant to Pakistans existence and security today. #India regularly bans all foreign publications (notably the Economist) for publishing maps that dont show all of Kashmir as falling under its occupation, yet it does not occur to Pakistan very often to protest such a gross distortion of the facts and blatant disfigurement of the rule of law. Meanwhile, Indian military attacks on Pakistan across both the LoC and the international border continue unabated and Indian smears regarding the incident at Keran keep going without a response from Pakistans government. On top of that Nawaz Sharif has kept no less than 7 ministries to himself and he plainly hasnt been able to do justice to all of them, but that is something he never shows up to answer for before the parliament. Ultimately, the fault lies with the Pakistani public for having voted into power with a large majority a man who has yet to demonstrate a hint of basic abilities in diplomacy and statecraft; it will now have to wait for five more years before deciding whether to keep him in office or bring someone else in his place.
Posted on: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 06:12:28 +0000
Trending Topics
© 2015