Michael Auslin, China and Japan, Spiraling Toward Confrontation. Wall Street Journal Asia, Mar 10, 2015 (op ed).
www.wsj.com/articles/michael-aus ... ontation-1426007492
Quote:
"The [Senkaku] islands lie at the end of what some in Japan call its 'southwestern wall,' a chain of islands stretching down from Kyushu through Okinawa and almost reaching Taiwan. These have strategic value because they form a potential obstacle to Chinese naval and commercial ships reaching the Pacific Ocean from China’s coast.
"It’s too simplistic to say that Beijing and Tokyo are on a collision course. Yet Japan shows no signs of buckling to Chinese pressure. Its military consistently responds to China’s expanding presence in northeast Asia’s skies and waters. That, in turn, raises the stakes for Beijing, which cannot afford to be seen backing down from its claims. Both sides have effectively made the Senkakus (called the Diaoyu Islands by China) a symbol of their determination to assert their national interest. * * *
"Neither wants to risk being seen as weak by the other or overshadowed in the eyes of regional states. So they are locked in a slowly spiraling competition reminiscent of the European powers in the late 19th century. As Chinese academic Shen Dingli has put it, 'the more the U.S. and Japan do, the more China will do.'
"Washington policy makers may like to think that their attempts to develop better working relations with Beijing should be taken [by Beijing] at face value. But the Chinese see the Obama administration’s attempts to deepen its alliance with Japan as proof of an encirclement policy dedicated to blocking China’s rise |