CHINA-JAPAN: MARITIME POWER
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A full-scale 80-meter-long replica of the warship 'Zhiyuan', that was sunk during a naval confrontation of the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), is under construction at a cost of 37 million Yuan (RMB-- US$ 6 million) in the city of Dandong, Liaoning province, on the coast of the Yellow Sea, which faces the western coast of the Korean Peninsula. It is scheduled to be completed in September. A museum on the First Sino-Japanese War will also be constructed near the site where the model warship is to be anchored. Chen Yue, Chairman of a study group on the history of the Chinese Navy, who wrote a commentary for 'Cankao Xiaoxi', said, “The (Chinese) government sees the 120th anniversary of the First Sino-Japanese War as a good opportunity to try to turn the people’s attention to the importance of maritime interests.”
'Cankao Xiaoxi', at one time a restricted circulation daily newspaper and subsidiary of China’s state-run Xinhua news agency, has carried 60 commentaries on the First Sino-Japanese War since March 2014. They were written by high-ranking Chinese military officers and historians. Many of the commentaries put priorities on learning lessons from the losing fight rather than on criticizing Japan, and appealed for bolstering China’s military. One commentary written by a PLA Navy Vice Admiral said, “We must create the world’s strongest naval forces to protect China’s maritime interests.”
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