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Geopolitics

Neighborhood Bully: Why China Has Raised The Stakes In Standoff With Japan

Anti-Japan protests in China
Anti-Japan protests in China

-Analysis-

For a week, Beijing and Tokyo have been challenging each other in the China Sea. They are playing a dangerous game in a high-risk zone. Any day now, an incident could degenerate into an armed confrontation. The U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is currently in Beijing trying to calm the waters.

We are way past a bilateral disagreement, however explosive. The crisis demonstrates the general attitude of China toward all its Pacific neighbors. It is no doubt linked to a difficult power transition in Beijing, a few weeks before the 18th party congress, in which the country's leadership will be shuffled. This mix of internal problems and nationalist hardline attitudes toward a foreign country is a political time bomb.

The reasons for the China-Japan quarrel are well known. China claims sovereignty over a small archipelago of islands, which have been under Japanese control because of historical circumstances. China calls them the Diaoyu Islands and says they have been Chinese since the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Japan calls them the Senkaku Islands. The United States put them under Japanese control in 1972, after having occupied them during the Second World War.

Today, both countries claim inalienable rights over the islands, rich in fish, and probably in oil and gas. Extremists on both sides have turned the issue into a question of national pride. This is never a good sign. The two countries have never been able to erase the painful and tragic memories of their joint history.

Ultra-nationalists

For several days, Beijing allowed a wave of anti-Japanese demonstrations to take place. There were violent protests against Japanese interests in China. Factories were burned or closed; there was a torrent of fury on the web. A flotilla of Chinese fishing boats is making its way toward the islands, which are protected by the Japanese coast guard.

The anger of Beijing was set off by the decision of the Japanese government to "nationalize" the islands. In fact, Japan bought them from their private owners so that the owners would not sell the islands to Japanese ultra-nationalists. Some might view this as a gesture of appeasement.

But for reasons which no doubt have much to do with internal debates of the Chinese leadership, Beijing has chosen this pretext to launch a campaign against one of its main commercial partners. Is this perhaps a pledge to the most nationalist part of the Chinese communist party?

All this gesturing is in line with the rather aggressive tone China has always used in its disagreements with its neighbors in the Pacific. China claims sovereignty over the whole region and presents itself as the preeminent regional power. Its neighbors are afraid, and are asking for help from that other great Pacific power, the United States. It is the most dangerous kind of strategic face-off.

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My Wife, My Boyfriend — And Grandkids: A Careful Coming Out For China's Gay Seniors

A series of interviews in Wuhan with aging gay men — all currently or formerly married to women — reveals a hidden story of how Chinese LGBTQ culture is gradually emerging from the shadows.

Image of two senior men playing chinese Checkers.

A friendly game of Checkers in Dongcheng, Beijing, China.

Wang Er

WUHAN — " What do you think of that guy sitting there, across from us? He's good looking."

" Then you should go and talk to him."

“ Too bad that I am old..."

Grandpa Shen was born in 1933. He says that for the past 40 years, he's been "repackaged," a Chinese expression for having come out as gay. Before his wife died when he was 50, Grandpa Shen says he was was a "standard" straight Chinese man. After serving in the army, he began working in a factory, and dated many women and evenutually got married.

"Becoming gay is nothing special, I found it very natural." Grandpa Shen says he discovered his homosexuality at the Martyrs' Square in Wuhan, a well-known gay men's gathering place.

✉️ You can receive our LGBTQ+ International roundup every week directly in your inbox. Subscribe here.

Wuhan used to have different such ways for LGBTQ+ to meet: newspaper columns, riversides, public toilets, bridges and baths to name but a few. With urbanization, many of these locations have disappeared. The transformation of Martyrs' Square into a park has gradually become a place frequented by middle-aged and older gay people in Wuhan, where they play cards and chat and make friends. There are also "comrades" (Chinese slang for gay) from outside the city who come to visit.

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