due to Sino-Japanese tensions over the East China Sea islands Senkaku (Japanese) or Diaoyu (Chinese).

What next - no-one allowed to ride with Shimano gearing???

see also http://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/news/39799/Argos-Shimano-out-of-Tour-of-Beijing-amid-tension

o.k. who can come up with a list of Japanese components, sponsors or soigneurs that rule teams out of the Tour of Beijing??

Getting to 75 words is never easy is it!! Nearly there, only a few words to go (& why does a link only count as one word!)