China Seeks Military Help From Japan
The Age
Thursday May 29, 2008
IN AN extraordinary move, China has requested Japanese military help in coping with this month's devastating Sichuan earthquake that has killed more than 67,000 people and displaced another 15 million.
Japan's Foreign Ministry yesterday confirmed that it was considering the request.If such military support eventuated, it would be the first time Japanese soldiers have been deployed in China since Japan invaded China in World War II, creating a bitterness that continues to this day, despite a recent thawing in bilateral relations.Japanese rescue teams were among the first foreign aid workers permitted into China after the May 12 quake."The Chinese Government has submitted a new request regarding provision of relief materials as well as transportation means, including that possibly to be extended by the SDF," said Japan's Foreign Ministry.The Japanese military is known as the SDF or Self-Defence Force. The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not commented. Meanwhile, aftershocks toppled another 420,000 homes in Sichuan's Qingchuan county on Tuesday, as President Hu Jintao called the earthquake relief operation China's biggest and most challenging since Communist China's founding in 1949. In 1976, an earthquake at Tangshan killed more than 240,000 people.The Chinese Government has raised the official number displaced by the May 12 quake to 15 million - three times the original estimate. Mr Hu's remarks - released on Tuesday after he presided over a meeting of the Politbureau - indicated that the relief operations were at a critical stage as officials tried to cope with crowded refugee camps and rising temperatures raising disease threats.Other survivors lack adequate shelter and faced rains, flooding and aftershocks. The area has suffered almost 200 aftershocks. The official death toll from the 8.0 magnitude quake (upgraded from the initial 7.8) has been raised to 68,109, with another 19,851 missing. China's banking regulator has ordered banks to write off bad loans caused by the earthquake, while education authorities promised to preserve all school sites for investigation into alleged shoddy construction that probably contributed to the high number of students and teachers who have died. Despite stricter controls on media reporting since the first week's initial freedom, angry parents have continued to pressure authorities about why so many school buildings collapsed in the quake.There will also be an investigation into reports that more than 60 cases of relief supplies have been misappropriated.The Government vowed to ensure that the more than 30 billion yuan ($A4.5 billion) in domestic and foreign donations were properly used. In a rare interview, Premier Wen Jiabao - who made his second visit to the earthquake-hit area at the weekend - told Hong Kong-based Phoenix cable television that the Government would ensure quake relief donations were used honestly from the start and it would not wait until the rescue effort was over before investigating irregularities. The reports of misappropriated relief materials have been supported by pictures posted on the internet showing tents marked for earthquake relief pitched in rich suburbs of Chengdu, Sichuan's capital, which did not suffer major damage but has been affected by aftershocks.KEY POINTS ? Japanese soldiers could be deployed in China for the first time since World War II.? Aftershocks have destroyed a further 420,000 homes.? The death toll tops 67,000.
© 2008 The Age