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The Pacific's very own Rockall

I don't suppose many of us in these parts have heard of the, depending on one's allegiances, Diaoyu / Senkaku Islands. Not much reason to have done so, as they are uninhabited and have a surface area of 7km. (I would prefer imperial measurements, but we make do with the cards we are dealt).

Anyway, they are ruled by Japan as part of the Okinawa prefecture, but the Chinese get very upset about this every once in a while, and are at the moment. Sundry Hong Kongers are sailing out there to plant a flag or two, having raised £122,000 odd from a whip round of concerned citizens. Ten years back someone died during a similar event, so they cannot be accused of lacking conviction, sincerity and the like. Just to add another layer the Chinese consider the islands are part of Taiwan province, which is doesn't rule either. To quote Borges on the Falklands, "Two bald men fighting over a comb".

It does not appear to be a dispute over maritime claims for fishing rights, oil etc is masquerading as one of principle, and the Chinese claim that the islands only ended up under Japanese sovereignty because of what they term 'the unequal treaties' that pecked away at China's edges in its long period of decline. While these amount to minor details in most cases, Mother Russia's swallowing of large chunks of real estate in the C19th grates, shall we say, with Chinese nationalists regarding the land where Vladivostok sits as rightfully Chinese. The Russian Empire got its hands on circa 400 000 square miles of land in the Far East in 1858/1860, or four United Kingdoms...

This entry was posted on Monday, October 23, 2006 at 8:20 am. You can skip to the end and leave a response.

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Anonymous Anonymous said... 8:50 am

Did the Croy see the refs to Croyn in successive Guardians.

Friday, Polly Toytown (elle!) attacks it for, she says, sacking 100 workers.

Saturday, an article on suburbia singled out Croyn for praise and enumerated various famous locals, tho I think they missed out Malcolm M., whose father, as you prob know, was on the council.

As Peter Simple used to say, "There's glory for you."  



Blogger Croydonian said... 10:03 am

OS (although I still think Stunonion is your best nom de plume),

I missd the Polly Technic article, then again she doubtless finds it an oturage that there is a private sector at all, and considers every last person working for the state to be dedicated, hard working and an utterly necessary addition to the payroll.

IT sent me a link to an item in the so called 'Independent' namechecking the Big C, and the celeb list was quite amusing.

Malcolm Marshall? Malcolm MacDonald? Malcolm McDowell? Sorry to be dim.  



Anonymous Anonymous said... 5:03 pm

Interesting! Yu young shavers are no longer aware of St. Malcolm Muggeridge. & his long journey from the Utopian left to conservative pessimism. His father was a Labor councillor around 1900. The son was sometime editor of Punch, before that worked for the Guardian but resigned to avoid being sacked. Etc etc

Salaam etc  



Blogger Croydonian said... 5:11 pm

Oh, St Mugg. Sorry, not at my sharpest today.  



Anonymous Anonymous said... 7:23 am

Talking of Croydon and St Mugg, Diaoyu, at 7 (square?)km seems to be abt 1730 acres, 2.7 sq miles. So, pace your pic of the puce-coloured Yellow River the Chinese are channeling the upper Mekong into it, I read, to make it flow to the sea again. Bugger the people of the lower Mekong, of course. But then, it looks like this century belongs to China...  



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