On the floor of a small bedroom, a child plays with a stuffed toy. In the corner a TV news broadcast flashes images of fighter jets over the disputed Diaoyu Islands. Toys have always been used as message spreaders. By rebranding violence as action, toys such as G.I. Joe smuggle a culture of military victory into the innocent universe of the child.
In the Division’s department of Cuddly Conflicts, Chapman has developed a series of nationalistic toys as Trojan horses to reframe the political situation of the East China Sea from the point of view of the Chinese propaganda machine. This enduring territorial dispute over eight uninhabited rocks, is played out by series of fantastical friendly monsters designed from warships, jet planes, and military machinery that describe the claiming of these islands. Political photographs that may be long lost in the memories are replayed through the actions of these characters and the innocent child's bedroom is transformed into a stage for the toys. A stage where politically charged, propagandised historical events are enacted through play; collapsing the complexities and scale of the territorial dispute into a bedroom, through the imagination of a small Chinese girl.
A series of fantastical friendly monsters emanating from warships, jet planes, and military machinery involved in the East China Seas play out the struggles for the Diaoyu Islands. Politically charged historical events are twisted and planted into a series of nationalistic toys as propaganda objects.
In the innocent Chinese bedroom we see fantastical propaganda toys, printed bed-sheets, wallpaper, TV, and the entire landscape of the room become a new battleground.
A diplomatic row has intensified between China and Japan after collisions between two Japanese patrol boats and a Chinese Type 054 frigate on Tuesday.The incidents in the East China Sea took place near a disputed chain of islands, which Japan controls but are claimed by both China and Taiwan.
A Japanese Coast Guard spokesman said the Chinese vessel had collided with two Japanese patrol boats in two separate incidents, 40 minutes apart. No injuries were reported.
China has deployed three nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines to a naval base in the East China Sea, according to a recent photo of the vessels that appeared on the internet.
The three Type 094 missile submarines appear to be part of China's plan to begin the first regular sea patrols of the Diaoyu waters.
China is adding additional Harbin Y-12 surveillance aircraft around the disputed Diaoyu Island to reinforce security. The Harbin Y-12 is a high wing twin-engine turboprop utility aircraft built by Harbin Aircraft Manufacturing Corporation (HAMC) known for light weight construction, and high payload of 5,700 kg.
Previous reports in the Chinese and Russian media pointed toward a deal having been reached over a sale of SU-35 multi-role jets. The SU-35 range and fuel capacity would allow the People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force to undertake extended patrols of the disputed areas following the model it has used to pressure Japan over the Diaoyu Islands.
The U.S. moved forcefully to try to counter China's bid for influence over increasingly jittery Asian neighbors by sending a pair of B-52 bombers over disputed islands in the East China Sea, U.S. officials said.
This image was taken from a Chinese People's Liberation Army Naval Air Force Harbin Y-12 from the 131st Fighter Squadron, based at Naval Air Force Base in Ningbo, Zhejiang, China. It was captured during a close-range aerial combat against a U.S. Air Force B-52 Bomber intruding the Chinese Air Defense Identification Zone from the Andersen Air Force Base in Guam.
