Understanding the Conflict: China and Japan Island Dispute

The relations between China and Japan have reached "breaking point" after a territorial row over a group of islands, known as the Senkaku islands in Japan and the Diaoyu islands in China. What are the facts behind this event? Why are these tiny islands so important for both countries? Is there just a historical reason behind it? 

The Senkaku Islands also known as the Diaoyu Islands are a group of uninhabited islands controlled by Japan in the East China Sea. They are located roughly due east of Mainland China, northeast of Taiwan, west of Okinawa Island, and north of the southwestern end of the Ryukyu Islands. 

The Senkaku Islands also known as the Diaoyu Islands

So why the relations so tense? The islands are important for both countries, because they are close to strategically important shipping lanes, offer rich fishing grounds and are thought to contain oil deposits. If you want to have a powerful state, you should reach cheap energy resources, make strong economy and spread the sphere of influence. This influence can be coercive, attractive, or competitive. 

American author Charles W. Freeman, Jr. described power as the following:

"Power is the capacity to direct the decisions and actions of others. Power derives from strength and will. Strength comes from the transformation of resources into capabilities. Will infuses objectives with resolve. Strategy marshals capabilities and brings them to bear with precision. Statecraft seeks through strategy to magnify the mass, relevance, impact, and irresistibility of power. It guides the ways the state deploys and applies its power abroad. These ways embrace the arts of war, espionage, and diplomacy. The practitioners of these three arts are the paladins of statecraft"

A country's power determines its stats in the international arena. Although there are some historical roots of this dispute, the main reason of tense of relations is the power. Japan and China are the great powers of their regions, so their interests will clash like in this dispute. The islands have strategical and economic importance for both countries. Obtaining these islands will also show the world who is the chief of the region. 

In addition, The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP’s) 18th National Congress originally scheduled for the fall of 2012. So, Chinese leaders will not want to be seen as weak. So, they will try to bring to the fore the feelings of nationalism in China. Japan will also act like China. 

Bo Xilai

However, we should not forget that the Chinese government also has been trying to focus national attention away from allegations of corruption and abuse of power involving a prominent former Communist Party official, Bo Xilai. 

Consequently, these two rival states will not do something wrong to shake their influence in the international arena. Moreover, while the financial crisis continues in the world, other states will not want to go to war like in the Korean War and they will assume the role of mediator. 

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Yesterday and Today in the European Union: The First Enlargement of the European Communities

Introduction

This article focus on European Communities. Firstly, it tries to explain the beginnings of integration after Second World War. After that, it give information about European Communities such as European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and European Economic Community (EEC). Finally, I analyzes the first enlargement of European Communities. In addition, it gives some information about establishment of the European Union.

The Beginnings of Integration after World War Two in Europe

If people look the political history of Europe, they will see wars between European countries. After Second World War, there was a destroyed Europe. Whole Europe had damaged or destroyed as financial, social and political. This war was the biggest one and it was bigger than First World War. In Second World War, millions of people were dead in Europe so Europeans wanted to stop these wars and permanent peace in Europe so providing peace between European states was very difficult.

In 20 September 1946, Winston Churchill made a special speech at the University of Zurich in Switzerland. According to Churchill, “The first step in the re-creation of the European Family must be a partnership between France and Germany. In this way only can France recover the moral and cultural leadership of Europe. There can be no revival of Europe without a spiritually great France and a spiritually great Germany. The structure of the United States of Europe, if well and truly built, will be such as to make the material strength of a single state less important. Small nations will count as much as large ones and gain their honor by their contribution to the common cause. The ancient states and principalities of Germany, freely joined together for mutual convenience in a federal system, might take their individual places among the United States of Europe.” This means that Europeans must build a kind of United States of Europe so this makes the speech very important because it was first signal of integration of Europe.

This speech became very effective on European countries and in 5 May 1949 the Council of Europe was established by treaty of London. Winston Churchill was a very important man for the process of integration of Europe but there were other actors for this process. They were German Prime Minister Konrad Adenauer, Italian Prime Minister Alcide de Gasperi, the Belgian Leader Paul Henry Spaak and French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman. There is no doubt that they are very important men for the integration process. There was also Jean Monnet who was known as the father of Europe. In 1950, Jean Monnet persuaded the French foreign minister Robert Schuman for declared a plan to a pooling of Europe` s coal and steel resources. In 1951, six countries signed the Treaty of Paris that establishes the European Coal and Steel Community. After that integration between European countries developed and now Europe has a strong union which is European Union.

European Communities after Second World War

After Second World War, European Integration started with establishment of the Council of Europe. Then this integration continued with establishment some communities in Europe. Firstly, the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was established in 1951 by the Treaty of Paris signed by 6 countries which are France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. “At last, the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community was signed in Paris on 18 April 1951 and entered into force on 24 July 1952, with a validity period limited to 50 years. The Treaty expired on 23 July 2002. The common market advocated by the Treaty opened on 10 February 1953 for coal, iron ore and scrap and on 1 May 1953 for steel.” It created a common market for coal and steel so it would stop the war between European states and create integration between European states. Secondly, the European Defense Community (EDC) was established was signed on 27 May 1952. The European Defense Community was established against Soviet block. The EDC included West Germany, France, Italy, and the Benelux countries but it was not effective because it was high politics therefore too political and too controversial because of this, European powers decided to make low politics so they established the European Economic Community (EEC). “European Economic Community (EEC), organization established (1958) by a treaty signed in 1957 by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and West Germany (now Germany); it was known informally as the Common Market. The EEC was the most significant of the three treaty organizations that were consolidated in 1967 to form the European Community (EC; known since the ratification [1993] of the Maastricht treaty as the European Union). The EEC had as its aim the eventual economic union of its member nations, ultimately leading to political union. It worked for the free movement of labor and capital, the abolition of trusts and cartels, and the development of joint and reciprocal policies on labor, social welfare, agriculture, transport, and foreign trade.”

As a result, all of these communities make a formation. European Union existed with this formation so all of these communities and their processes are very important.
 

First Enlargement of European Communities: From Six to Twelve and More

 

First enlargement of European Communities starts with joining of Britain, Denmark and Ireland. Actually, Britain is very big and powerful country so people can ask a question. Why did not Britain become one of the founder members of these communities? Answer is in the beginning, Britain did not believe that these communities can become successful so they did not join these communities although the Britain had been invited to take part in both in the European Coal and Steel Community and in the European Economic and Atomic Energy Communities. “In 1960s, Britain recognizes that these communities became successful and they are going a strong unification in Europe so they applied 3 times but their applications have been veto. In 1973, Britain joined the community with Denmark and Ireland. This was the first enlargement for the community.”

 

After this enlargement, European communities became more powerful and they continued to enlargement. In 1981, Greece joined communities and in 1986, Portugal and joined.

 

“With a wave of new enlargements on the way, the Maastricht Treaty was signed on 7 February 1992 which established the European Union when it came into force the following year. On 1 November 1993, under the third Delors Commission, the Maastricht Treaty (Treaty on the European Union) became effective.” Thus, all communities of Europe are united under European Union.

 

European Union is an international and supranational organization that it provides peace, security common market, etc. in Europe and it still provides.

Conclusion

Firstly, this article mentioned about the beginnings of integration after Second World War in Europe. It tried to explain the process of the integration in Europe. After that, this article tried to help to give information about European Communities because these communities are very important for integration and they are a part of integration process such as it gave information about three main communities; the European Coal and Steel Community, the European Defense Community and the European Economic Community. In the last part of the article, it mentioned about the first enlargement of European Communities and it stated what happened after this enlargement.

 

As a result, this integration process is very important for Europeans because it made peace for Europe. After this process there is no war between European states, anymore so first enlargement and continued enlargements are important. Today, there is European Union so there is peace, wealth, presence in Europe.

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İsa Burak GONCA 

References: 
http://www.ellopos.net/politics/churchill-europe.asp?pg=3
http://europa.eu/scadplus/treaties/ecsc_en.htm 
http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/history/A0817889.html 
Pinder, J., European Community: The Building of a Union. New York: Opus, 1995

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Turkey - Pakistan Relations: A Deep Bond of Brotherhood

Pakistan is the second largest Muslim country in terms of percentage of population after Indonesia, and its status as a declared nuclear power, being the only Islamic nation to have that status, plays a part in its international role. Moreover, she is the 27th largest in the world in terms of PPP and the 45th largest in nominal terms. The economy of Pakistan is South Asia's second largest economy; representing about 15 percent of regional GDP. On the other hand, Turkey is centrally located between Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East. In addition, Turkey has the largest Muslim GDP without any oil reserves. Although there is not described a nuclear power in Turkey, she has the second largest armed forces in NATO. Nevertheless Turkey's economy is developing rapidly. Turkey has the world's 15th largest GDP-PPP and 17th largest Nominal GDP. The country is a founding member of the OECD and the G-20 major economies. According to WEO, Turkey is 6th largest economy compared with the 27 EU Countries in 2011. Turkey is an important energy terminal and corridor in Europe connecting the East and the West. She is in the EU Customs Union since 1996 and an EU accession country since October 2005. Turkey is the 15th most attractive FDI destination for 2008-2010 (UNCTAD).

Pakistani–Turkish relations have been traditionally strong. Both nations maintain extensive cultural, commercial, strategic and military cooperation. Both Turkey and Pakistan are Muslim-majority states and share extensive cultural and geopolitical links. Turkey considers the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, with which it is bound with fraternal ties, as one of the prominent players for the security and stability of the region.  The people of both countries have brotherly relations which date back centuries. These relations have been traditionally strong. Relations between Pakistan and Turkey are exemplary. Turkey established diplomatic relations soon after the independence of Pakistan in 1947 and bilateral relations became increasingly close owing to cultural, religious and geopolitical links between the two countries. Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah expressed admiration for Turkey's founding leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and also a desire to develop Pakistan on the Turkish model of modernism and secularism. Similar ideas were expressed by the former President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf, who grew up in Turkey and had received extensive military training there. Jinnah is honored as a great leader in Turkey, and a major road of the Turkish capital Ankara, the Cinnah Caddesi is named after him, while roads in Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, Peshawar, and Larkana are named after Atatürk. On 26 October 2009, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was awarded the Nishan-e-Pakistan and was the fourth world leader who spoke to the Pakistani parliament. Erdoğan said that Pakistan had always occupied a special place in the hearts and minds of the Turkish government and people. 

Turkey and Pakistan are founding members of the Economic Cooperation Organization and part of the Developing 8 Countries (D-8) organization. Both nations have worked to negotiate a preferential trading agreement, aiming to considerably increase trade and investments, especially in transport, telecommunications, manufacturing, tourism and other industries.

The positive reflection of the excellent bilateral relations can also be seen in the international fora. Turkey and Pakistan are supporting each other in all international platforms. By pursuing active and constructive policies in multilateral processes such as Friends of Democratic Pakistan (FoDP), as well as organizing Turkey-Pakistan-Afghanistan Trilateral Summits, Turkey deems the contributions to the peace and stability in this region as a priority. 

The U.S.A accuses Pakistan Trust Services of aiding and abetting the organs of terrorism in these days, Turkey should be more support to Pakistan, because supporting Pakistan is a must for the peace in the region of Pakistan which includes Afghanistan, India, and Iran.

İsa Burak GONCA

References

“Pakistan Country Report” http://www.radaid.org/UploadedFiles/RADAID%20Pakistan%20Health%20Care%20Radiology%20Report%202011.pdf

"Recent developments". The World Bank.  June 2011.

"Pakistan May Keep Key Rate Unchanged After Two Cuts This Year". Bloomberg. 28 September 2009. Retrieved 2 January 2010.

 "One Nation-Two States". Hurriet daily news.

 "Pak-Turk political relations". Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"Pak-Turk strong relations". Daily Hurriet News.

"Turkey and Pakistan: Bridging the Growing Divergence" Center for Strategic Research.

Anderson, Paul (2003-06-16). "Turkey and Pakistan boost ties". BBC News.

"Turkey and Pakistan join forces". Center for Strategic Research

"Turkey to sign PTA with Pakistan". Daily Times, Pakistan. 2005-04-16.

"Pakistan, Turkey discuss defence co-production"

"Trade between Pakistan & Turkey". Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry

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Japan Has Recorded Her First Annual Trade Deficit For More Than 30 Years

Japan has recorded trade deficit for the first time after a lapse of thirty years. Economy of cars and electronic goods, particularly key export products of importance to come to Japan's foreign trade deficit, last year's earthquake and tsunami disaster that occurred on March 11, overvaluation in Yen and energy bills increase was effective.

According to the Ministry of Finance of Japan, the world's third largest economy, foreign trade deficit in 2011 2 49 trillion yen (32 billion U.S. dollars) reached.

The country's imports rose 12 percent last year, exports declined by 2.7 percent, 65.55 trillion yen (843 billion U.S. dollars) declined.

In addition, European and U.S. economies, due to the uncertainty of global investors turn to yen, and Japanese exports to the appreciation of the currency led to the increased cost of products in foreign markets.

In addition, the tsunami Fukushima nuclear power plant accident are forced to close because of the large number of nuclear plant outside of Japan during this period had to increase the power of the source of a considerable amount.

In December, Japan's foreign trade deficit of 205.1 billion yen (5.6 billion dollars) was recorded.

The period in question the country's exports fell by 8 per cent over the same month the previous year, imports increased by 8.1 percent.

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