''Financial Times: China Eyeing Okinawa in the Long-term?''

From Japan Security Watch

''While the Western media has at times taken great delight in publishing somewhat fantastical stories about the influence that Japanese ‘nationalists’ hold over the contemporary Japanese imagination, China’s own home grown group with questionable interpretations of history for the most part seemed to escape the attention of analysts and journalists – until recently. Part of this is due to a lack of sophistication in analysis of China- it was assumed for a long period of time that non-democratic CCP China was a homogeneous entity with homogeneous IR and domestic policy preferences, and deviations from the official line were mere lapses of discipline. We have however thankfully seen more focus on contending and diverse political elements as China’s importance increases. Some of this has been to emphasize the ‘reformist’ elements in the CCP, which of course do exist to some degree. Others have focused on the more hardline elements rising through the system. The Financial Times for example has just published an interesting piece on how some actors in the Chinese political system see questioning the legitimacy of Japanese sovereignty over Okinawa (Ryukyu) as justified.''

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