Month: April 2015

Senkaku problem

We discussed an article of Senkaku problem. Japan and Taiwan have signed a deal allowing Taiwan to fish near Senkaku islands. China and Taiwan both claim sovereignty of the islands. The islands has rich maritime resources.

Then China anger at the deal. Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary said that the islands were inherently Japanese territory and the deal had no relation to the territorial dispute. Many analysts believe that Japan tried to prevent Taiwan and China from claiming sovereignty the islands together by the deal.

In my opinion, Japan should admit an existence of the problem about Senkaku islands so as to resolve it. Although the islands are controlled by Japan and Japanese territory, China and Taiwan have tried to interfere with Japanese sovereignty of them. So it seems to be difficult for Japan to keep Senkaku islands controlled by Japan without troubles. Now, China is big country and has effects on many countries. So it is bad for Japan to be in a bad relationship with China from various points of view. I admit that there is a possibility that China will not allow the sovereignty of them. Nevertheless, I think admitting an existence of the territorial problem is better than denying it for the solution. That kind of decision will become the first step toward the solution.

“Burma riots: Muslim gold shop workers jailed”

In the last class, we discuss the article about a serious religious conflict in Burma.

The summary and my opinion are as follows.

 

1) The summary of the article

In Burma, three Muslims were imprisoned for offering violence to Buddhists and causing deadly religious clashes.

The perpetrators, who were working at a gold shop in Meiktila, had a fight with Buddhist customers and assaulted them. The incident has led to the serious conflict between Muslim and Buddhist communities in Burma. Finally, curfews were imposed in some towns including Meiktila and many people suffered damage; some people died in the confusion.

Following this conflict, which is one of the worst ones in Burma, the president showed a strong attitude toward people fomenting a religious conflict.

クリックすると新しいウィンドウで開きます

 

2) Opinion

Reading this article brought home to me again that religious problems are very sensitive and difficult to solve for the following reason.

Religion is deeply connected to believers’ daily lives and could affect even their way of thinking or living. At the same time, there are various religions in the world; every one has a different custom, values, understanding on death or god and so on. However, understanding each other is difficult; because accepting other’s religious faith might mean denying their own faith, that is, lives that they have gone through in some cases. Once a conflict between some religious groups become serious, it is difficult to control it and a local incident can cause a great disaster like the case in Burma.

In this way, religious problems are difficult to handle. However, it does not necessarily follow that we can do nothing for that: we cannot eliminate a religious conflict itself but can prevent a military clash from breaking out.

In many cases, there are political matters like territorial dispute behind a religious clash. For example, the Iraq War broke out in the result of fighting for oil. In other words, a religious conflict is apt to be made use of by the authority. Therefore, we can prevent the occurrence of such a military clash by solving not a religious conflict itself but political issues behind it.

In conclusion, I think every person should be interested in and observe carefully what is happening in the world in order to identify political matters which would lead a military clash between religious groups.

Muslim gold shop workers jailed

We talked about the conflict between Muslims and Buddhist in Burma.　Three Muslims received 14year prison sentence in order to communal violence.

The incident that the gold shop owner beat a Buddhist customer is thought the trigger of the clashes between two, Burma’s Muslim and Buddhist communities.

From that the communal violence spread to the other part of the area and a lot of Muslims were deprived their living.

Burmese president Thein Sein finally warned to use force if the enmity between faith of religions. The violence is kind of illegal.

IT is not important what was the trigger of these riots, but the cause of their anger. The hatred between faiths was existed before the violence already. We have to solve the essential cause of their hatred in  people’s mind.

It seems that different faith and religions exist in the same area or the same country is bad, but I think there are not only negative points, but good points. It is good to have many kinds of ideas. If we put many different ideas to good account, we should understand each religious backgrounds and the environment they have put now. After they understand each other they should show respect each other. If we could not understand the others, we have to try it.

Violence at a gold shop in Meiktila has caused clashes between Muslim and Buddhist in Burma

Reportedly, the dispute started when a Muslim owner of the gold shop beat a Buddhist customer on the head. The dispute has spread to neighbor towns. Many Muslims have been persecuted or been destroyed since the clashes began on 20 March. Burma’s government intends to use force if the state of the dispute turns for the worse, Burmese president said. I think religious disputes are difficult to settle, because beginnings of these disputes are very old. However, reason for many of these disputes is that many people discriminate others only by their religions. So I think we have to see people by many points, not only by their religions.

Burma riots

Today, I read about religion problem in Burma. In Burma Most people are Buddhists and Muslims are minolities.

Rohingya Muslims are said to cause unstainability in Burma.So they are not recognized as Burmese citizens.They fight the persecution.

In Meiktila,three Muslims worked at the gold shop.One day, a dispute occurred .They were convicted of theft and assault. A court in Burma has sentenced them to 14 years in jail for their role in communal violence that has left more than 40 dead. That’s because the dispute at the shop is thought to have triggered deadly clashes between Burma’s Muslims and Buddhist communities.

The violence spread to other  towns.More than12.000 Muslims have been displaced from their homes since the clashes began on 20 March.The influence of the news extended violence.AP agency reports state prosecutors say religious extremists are building several cases against  dozens of people involved in the violence,includingBuddists and Muslims.But  there are no evidence.

Government of Burma wants  to hide this religious conflict between Buddhist and Muslim.Last year, Prime Minister of Burma Thein Sein said the government would use force to stop political opportunists and religious extremists from make relationship between faiths worse.

I think it’s necessary to solve religious conflict for democratization.But it’s so delicate problem and it takes long time.So the conference and  the corporation of global society are needed.

 

Senkaku islands dispute

The other day, we discussed about a report of Senkaku problem. Following is the summary and my opinion.

Japan and Taiwan signed a fisheries agreement which is concerned with a right of fishing. The agreement allows Taiwan to fish within 19km of the islands, Senkaku. After the announcement, China expressed opposition to the agreement and state “extreme concerns”.

Between Japan and China, there have been serious territorial issues about Senkaku islands. Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary said that the islands are Japanese territory from the first, so the agreement had no relation to the territorial dispute. However, because there of marine resources such as rich fishing grounds and oil deposits, China strongly has opposed the Japanese possession of the islands.

Many analysts believe that Japan want to keep away China and Taiwan from territorial dispute making use of this deal.

In my opinion, Chinese interference such as expressing “extreme concerns” is wrong action. That is because Chinese insistence suddenly happened after around 1970 when they found the fact that there are oil resources around Senkaku islands. That means that China insist their right of possession entirely because of marine resources of the islands. So, Chinese assertion is improper and the islands is surely Japanese territory from a historical point of view.

That’s all.

China angere at Japan-Taiwan disputed island fishing deal

　Today we discussed the problem between Japan and China about the territorial rights over the Senkaku islands. China angered at Japan, because Japan and Taiwan signed a deal, which made it OK for Taiwan to fish within 19km of the islands. China claims independence of Taiwan, because Taiwan doesn’t have offisial diplomatic relations with Japan. On the other hand, Japan insits that it made the deal to prtect maritime resources in the East China Sea, so the deal doesn’t have relation to the territorial dispute. I think it’s need to discuss the territorial rights over Senkaku islands with the countries around the Senkaku islands and to make a rule.