TOKYO – Japanese police on Monday set up a special unit to oversee efforts to stem what they are describing as a full-fledged “war” between rival organised crime groups, media reported.

Officers have made a series of raids and arrests since late last year after a split in the country’s biggest crime syndicate fuelled fears of the worst gang conflict in decades.

The Yamaguchi-gumi gang based in the western city of Kobe has been rocked by internal strife since late last year following the defection of several top leaders who formed a rival splinter group.

The split in Japan’s biggest organised crime, or yakuza, organisation has prompted police warnings of a possible repeat of a 1980s gangland bloodbath.

On Monday, the National Police Agency declared that the two groups were in a state of “war against each other” and established a special headquarters to “intensify” their response, Jiji Press reported.

An agency spokesman could not immediately confirm the report, though it came as officers are investigating a spike in suspected violence involving the groups.

Two bullets were found Sunday inside an office loyal to the recently formed renegade group in the city of Mito northeast of Tokyo, a police spokesman said Monday.

Three bullet holes were also visible on a wall, but no one was injured.

The incident came after police arrested a 40-year-old gangster on suspicion that a truck he drove careened into another parked in front of the office on Saturday.

“We suspect the two cases are part of the recent conflicts” between the Yamaguchi-gumi and the splinter group, a spokesman for Mito police said.

“We are strengthening security and closely monitoring further developments,” he told AFP.

A dozen similar cases allegedly involving the internecine strife have been reported since late February.

In Toyama, a prefecture on Japan’s northwestern coast, a member belonging to the splinter group was arrested last week on suspicion of injuring a rival Yamaguchi-gumi gangster.

“Residents are very worried,” Kenichi Tanaka, a local police official told Japan’s national broadcaster NHK, after 10 police vehicles cruised around an elementary school near a gang office with which the suspect is affiliated.

“We are remaining doggedly vigilant to protect them.”

Similar to the Mafia in Italy and Chinese triads, Japan’s yakuza engage in everything from gambling, drugs and prostitution to loan sharking, protection rackets and white-collar crime.

But overall Japan is known for its peaceful society and low crime rates while strict firearm control laws make gun violence extremely rare, though it is often linked to organised crime gangs when it occurs.

Periodic crackdowns and police efforts to choke off Yamaguchi-gumi’s sources of funding have gained momentum in recent years.

Public wariness of tolerance for organised crime and Japan’s slack economy have made life difficult for gangsters and made membership less attractive for potential recruits, experts say.

TOKYO – A Japanese submarine will visit the Philippines for the first time in 15 years, along with two warships that will then sail on to Vietnam, in a show of support for nations opposed to Beijing’s ambitions in the South China Sea, a person familiar with the matter said.

The Japanese submarine, which is used for training, and the destroyers will arrive in the Philippines in April. The escort vessels will later sail to Vietnam’s strategic Cam Ranh Bay base on the South China Sea, the source said.

“It sends a message. It is important for Japan to show its presence,” the person with knowledge of the plan said on Monday. He asked not to be identified because he was not authorised to talk to the media.

A Japanese Ministry of Defence spokesman declined to comment on any submarine visit but said the navy normally conducted training voyages in March and April.

“But we are still in the planning stage so are unable to provide details,” he said.

The visits were first reported by Japanese media, including the Sankei newspaper, on Sunday.

Asked about the visits, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Japan occupied the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea during World War Two so China was on “high alert” for Japan’s military moves there.

“The co-operation of relevant countries should benefit regional stability and should not be directed at third parties or harm another country’s sovereignty or security interests,” he told a daily news briefing in Beijing.

Of the countries bordering the South China Sea, the Philippines and Vietnam are most opposed to China expanding its influence in the region by building bases on reclaimed islands.

The Philippine military had not received any official notification of a visit by a Japanese submarine, a military spokesman said, though a visit to the Subic Bay naval base was expected.

“Informally, we know a Japanese submarine is visiting Subic in April,” said the Philippine spokesman, Brigadier-General Restituto Padilla.

JAPANESE MINISTER TO VISIT

Rich in natural resources, the South China Sea is also a major thoroughfare for global trade worth up to $5 billion a year, much of it coming to and from Japanese ports.

The United States, which has asked China to halt reclamation work that could destabilize the region, has irritated China by conducting naval patrols close to the man-made outcrops in what are known as freedom-of-navigation operations.

Rather than confronting China in such a direct way, Japan instead wants to build the capacity of nations in the region to improve their surveillance of Chinese forces. Japan’s Minister of Defence Gen Nakatani is due to travel to the Philippines in April to discuss co-operation.

Japan has already offered to supply the Philippines with aircraft that will help bolster patrols over the disputed sea. Japan wants to give the Philippines a handful of Beechcraft TC-90 King Air training planes that could be fitted with basic surface and air surveillance radar.

The Philippines has also asked the United States to hold joint naval patrols.

Japan and Vietnam agreed in November to hold their first joint naval exercise.

The United States has no South China Sea claim and says it takes no sides, though it has been highly critical of China’s assertiveness and says it will protect freedom of navigation.

Taiwan president visits disputed Taiping island in Spratly archipelago at South China Sea

Click on thumbnail to view photos. Source: 

Reuters, AFP, Digital Globe

MANILA – The Philippines has approved a new set of rules on genetically modified organisms after a top court demanded an overhaul of previous regulations, providing relief to farmers and importers worried that any delay would spark a food crisis.

The five ministers that needed to sign the rules had done so as of Monday, Merle Palacpac, chief of the plant quarantine service at the Bureau of Plant Industry, told Reuters.

The new rules will now be forwarded to the Department of Agriculture, with Palacpac saying they would likely take effect by April.

The Supreme Court in December halted the issuance of fresh permits for planting or importing genetically modified crops until the new rules were in place, putting in limbo nearly 1 million corn farmers and buyers of GM soybean meal, the Philippines’ top GMO import.

The court was acting on a petition by environmental activists led by Greenpeace, with the move likely closely watched by governments elsewhere as the Philippines is seen as a trailblazer for GMO.

Greenpeace on Monday said it would take further action against the new GMO guidelines.

“Definitely there will be action but we haven’t decided (what it will be) yet,” said Greenpeace campaigner Leonora Lava, adding that it would discuss options with other petitioners and allied groups.

The new rules are expected to improve transparency in the approval process for permits to plant, import and commercialise GM products, including enhanced regulations on risk assessment and involvement of local governments, said Palacpac.

“The technical working group made sure that these concerns by the Supreme Court have been addressed,” she said.

The government had aimed to have the regulations signed by the five ministers on Feb. 24, but that was delayed as some officials were travelling.

While importers of soymeal welcomed the new regulations, they were concerned it could now take longer to get permission to ship in GM crops.

Under the old rules, feed millers were only required to get sanitary and phytosanitary import clearance for soybean meal that they shipped in, said an industry source. But it is unclear whether they now will also have to get a separate biosafety permit, the source added.

The Philippines was the first in Asia to approve commercial cultivation of a GM crop for animal feed and food in 2002 when it allowed GM corn planting. It has also allowed GM crop imports for more than a decade. Around 70 per cent of its corn output is GM.

GMO’s critics argue the technology poses risks to public health, while advocates say such fears have not been scientifically proven and that high-yielding genetically altered crops would help ensure food security as the world’s population grows.