China: Tensions Rise Over Islands as Rumors Swirl About Xi
China is once again mired in a territorial dispute with Japan,
as rumors continue to circulate over Vice President Xi Jinping’s
public disappearing act.  On the cusp of a major leadership
transition, and with rumors swirling about why its heir apparent
is incommunicado, China is once again embroiled in a simmering
territorial dispute with Japan over a string of uninhabited
islands in the East China Sea.  The tension reignited this week
when the Japanese government decided to purchase three of five
islands—known as the Senkakus in Japanese or the Diaoyu in
Chinese—from a Japanese family that claims to own them for more
than $26 million.  The move saw a swift backlash online in
China, where for weeks anti-Japanese sentiment has mounted over
the islands. In late August Chinese youth ripped the Japanese
flag off the Japanese ambassador’s car, and protesters marched
in the southwestern city of Chengdu, some waving a banner that
read “Kill all Japanese.”