Japanese Carmakers Close Doors In China On Invasion-Day

by Bertel Schmitt

Published: September 18th, 2012

japanese carmakers close doors in china on invasion day

Most Japanese carmakers temporarily closed their Chinese factories on the anniversary date of Japan’s pre-war invasion of China.

This follows violent riots across China.

Toyota suspended some of its car production operations in China. Toyota spokesman Hitoshi Yokoyama said in a text message sent to Reuters that Toyota decided to halt manufacturing and other operations, to “ensure employee safety.”
Suzuki said it is suspending operations at one of its motorcycle plants in China. Operations at the plant in Jinan, Shandong province, will be halted on Tuesday, Suzuki spokesman Ei Mochizuki told Reuters.
Mitsubishi Motors said it will halt operations at one of its factories in China, Reuters says. Yamaha Motor Co also said that it will suspend operations at four plants in China on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Mazda said it will resume production at its Nanjing factory in China, earlier than initially planned, a spokesman told Reuters today.
Nissan told Reuters it will resume production tomorrow, Wednesday.

More plant closures had been announced yesterday.

Overall, it currently appears as if matters are cooling down after getting out of hand over the weekend. After having run appeals that “irrational, violent anti-Japanese protests should be avoided,” Government-controlled media rarely report about demonstrations anymore, and “sensitive” search words have been purged from the Weibo microblog platform.

Also according to Reuters, there is a risk the protests ”could get out of hand and backfire on Beijing, which has implied tacit approval to them through state media. One Hong Kong newspaper said some protesters in southern Shenzhen had been detained for calling for democracy and human rights.”

Yesterday’s departure of a giant fleet of 1,000 Chinese fishing boats, en-route to the disputed islands, probably was a half truth. Last weekend, a three month fishing moratorium for the area ended, and fishing boats would have left with and without international attention.

#BertelSchmitt #China #Islands #Japan

Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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8 of 38 comments

Pch101 on Sep 18, 2012

This is a trial balloon for the Chinese to take Taiwan. We can all be proud when that happens. After all, our Walmart and auto parts shopping will have bankrolled it.

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- Onyxtape on Sep 18, 2012
  
  Economically, that's a dead end. 2-3 million Taiwanese (about 15% of the total population) currently work in China. There are too many business transactions going on to spark any war or invasions or anything like that anymore.
  
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- CJinSD on Sep 18, 2012
  
  I didn't vote for Clinton.
  
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- Pch101 on Sep 18, 2012
  
  @onyxtape "There are too many business transactions going on to spark any war or invasions or anything like that anymore." The Soviets were trading with the Nazis right up until the day that the Nazis began Operation Barbarossa. Trade is irrelevant. China wants Taiwan back. Money isn't an issue; ideology is. When the PRC feels that it can get away with it, it's going to make its move. And that move that they make will forever damage the prestige of the United States, because the Chinese will by then have amassed a considerable military force and will wave that in our faces. There won't be a damn thing that the US can do about it. At least we'll have some cheap car tires to show for it. That will be a low price to pay for losing superpower status.
  
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- El scotto on Sep 18, 2012
  
  Headlines will continue as China disputes all/any archipelagos in the China Sea that aren't theirs.The US will get involved to: 1. Help an another member of a defense pact. 2. The sitting president is involved in a sex scandal. I got to go Kosovo. At that point Fred Thompson's line in Top Gun will be quoted: "This will get ugly and people will die."
  
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- 28-Cars-Later on Sep 18, 2012
  
  Interesting thought PCH, although in this case there is no native population who would resist/protest against the Chinese on television, let alone resist militarily. Its a PR world, the Chinese have yet to do anything diplomatically or militarily and yet look at the coverage these rocks are getting due to Chinese protests. Taiwan won't be quite as easy.
  
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- 28-Cars-Later on Sep 18, 2012
  
  @onyxtape End-all geopolitical conflict is a possible option, one given the quiet Pacific buildup which could be in the cards. Personally at this juncture I have little faith in the Boomer generation to prosecute a successful war, but that doesn't mean they won't try.
  
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Johnny ro on Sep 18, 2012

Not much about cars here. I see Japan invaded Manchuria on Sept 19, 1931. Its hard to say that was a pre-war invasion. You must mean, pre-WWII. I can say, WWII did not start on Dec 7, 1941 as most Americans may think. Maybe it became WWII when Britain and France declared war in 1939. That was long after the shooting started. The last quote I saw for Chinese dead was 30 million. Up there with the Russians. I suspect the island dispute is about resource reserves. Hydrocarbons in those waters.

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