Senkaku Islands Row: Chinese Frigate Locked Weapon-Targeting Radar on Japanese SDF Navy Ship

Ishihara Senior and Junior must be thrilled.

From The Telegraph quoting AFP (2/6/2013; emphasis is mine):

China frigate locked radar on Japan navy

A Chinese military frigate locked its weapon-targeting radar on a Japanese navy vessel on at least one occasion, Japan's defence minister has claimed, as the bitter territorial row threatened to escalate.

Itsunori Onodera claimed that on January 30, "something like fire-control radar" was directed at a Japanese Self-Defence Maritime escort ship in the East China Sea.

Mr Onodera said a Japanese military helicopter was also locked with a similar radar a few days earlier.

"Directing such radar is very abnormal," he said. "We recognise it would create a very dangerous situation if a single misstep occurred.

"We will seek the Chinese side's self-restraint from taking such dangerous action."

The move is an apparent ramping up of an already tense situation in the East China Sea, where Asia's two largest economies are at loggerheads over the sovereignty of an uninhabited island chain.

(Full article at the link)

It is as if someone is pulling a gun right at your face. So what is the reaction in Japan?

Mainichi Shinbun (2/5/2013) says that the Chinese government may be "frustrated" with Japan's Abe administration, but tries to lay the blame later only on the military who did it without the approval from the Chinese political leadership.

Asahi Shinbun (puts out a more realistic assessment, quoting military experts. A Defense Ministry official is quoted as saying "It's as if someone is aiming a gun right at you". Another expert says it is a provocation by the Chinese, who fully know that Japan's SDF could not do anything. The Self Defense Force is not allowed to retaliate unless it is attacked first. For now.

And as usual, many on Twitter firmly believe it has something to do with the imperial interest of the United States somehow. They don't know (or say) exactly what the interest is, but as usual concludes anything bad that happens to Japan is because of the US.

How about blaming the Ishiharas, for a change? Or the Abe administration? No, the ascent of Ishihara, Abe is considered by many on the net as having something to do with the imperial interest of the United States.

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