The dispute in the East China Sea between China and Japan over the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands has attracted global attention and has been considered a dangerous turn of events. The dispute between China and Japan started with this group of islands and has grown because of the nationalistic views of both countries and past conflicts that have increased tensions. Japan’s prime minister, Shinzo Abe, visited the Yasakuni shrine, which caused political offence to China and has alienated both countries even more. Nationalist displays by the Japanese government often bring memories of Japanese atrocities during World War Two to the forefront of disputes between Japan and other East Asian nations (Zurcher, 2014).
Furthermore, Japan has been amassing nuclear stockpiles by amassing enriched uranium and weapons-grade plutonium. This is a strategic move by Japan to get the attention of other countries and show them that this is a serious matter while keeping China at a safe distance with the mild threat of nuclear war. This is a very delicate matter because other countries could consider intervening. With such vast amounts of resources for nuclear weapons building, Japan is a threat to all.
Tensions have also appeared on the economic front, with some Chinese calling for a full boycott of Japanese products and targeting Japanese businesses and restaurants; Japan has started to shift its financial focus towards Southeast Asia (Tiezzi, 2014). Both countries are pointing their guns toward each other and waiting for the other to blink. With the Japan’s increase of the number of naval ships and war planes to guard the 5 uninhabited islands, while trying to involve the US, and China’s increase of military and defense spending to extreme levels, whether or not the two blink, they are nevertheless on the brink of starting World War III, if no negotiation or intervention is made.
In addition to Vietnam and the Philippines alliance in confronting China and protecting the Spratly Islands, Japan has also decided to join forces in battle against China by shifting more investment to Vietnam. Due to the political instability with China, Japan has transferred its capital flows which dropped from $13.48 billion to $2.5 billion into Vietnam, in which the nation’s foreign investment increased from $169 million to $4.45 billion from 2010 to 2013. “Vietnam’s chief attractions include a peaceful environment and low cost labor force”, said Atsusuke Kawada, chief executive of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) (Song, 2014).
In order to prevent further escalation, the Asia Society recommends that the U.S. becomes more involved, or that the matter be taken to the U.N. If one country decides to use legal action instead of military action, the U.N. most likely has a previous example of a sea dispute. Currently, President Barrack Obama has already declared Japan’s sovereignty over the islands, therefore U.S. Military experts have already been coming up with suggestions for Japan’s public relations image, to defend China’s accusation of being “the aggressor driven by militarism.” (Hayashi, 2014). These suggestions include annual military dialogues between China and Japan and the set up of a military-to-military crisis hotline (both countries have agreed to this but no further action has been taken), and making use of the dispute resolution systems within the United Nations, such as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the Law of Sea tribunals (ITLOS) (Smith, 2014).
The Chinese and the Japanese have a very complex and strong nationalist ideology. Unfortunately, since the Sino-Japanese War and later the occupation of China by Japan, these nationalistic views have made these two nations carry resentment for each other. The primordialist nationalism of the Chinese has been since the start of its political movements. Sun Yatsen "famously referred to the Chinese Nation as the Yellow Race” (Barabantseva). This union of the Chinese because of their culture and ethnicity have worsened the tensions with Japan. Japanese prime ministers keep going to the shrines where the remains of convicted war criminals reside and this causes outrage for the Chinese who think of this as offensive and disrespectful for those massacred in the war. The Japanese Prime Minister is also asserting himself in Asia and doesn’t try to work amiably with China. The modernist nationalism of the Japanese clashes with the old primordialist nationalism of China which causes minor conflicts that may be much more dire than they seem.
One part of history where both countries could look towards to solve this conflict is the Cold War. The United States and Russia have extensive knowledge about these types of situations. Some solutions include: “Incidents at Sea Agreement concluded bilaterally between Japan and China, but perhaps adapted to include others such as South Korea. Annual military dialogues where Tokyo and Beijing could discuss their military Rules of Engagement (ROEs) as well as review interactions between their militaries would be welcome. Japan has this arrangement with its Russian neighbors. Crisis communications mechanisms are also important”.[1]
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Works Cited
Smith, Sheila. (2014, February 21). “How China and Japan Might Avoid Military Confrontation in the East China Sea.” Asia Society. Retrieved fromhttp://asiasociety.org/blog/asia/how-china-and- japan-might-avoid-military-confrontation-east-china-sea.
Tiezzi, Shannon. (2014, January 25). “The New Cold War: China vs. Japan.” The Diplomat. Retrieved from http://thediplomat.com/2014/01/the-new-cold-war-china-vs-japan/.
Zurcher, Anthony (2014, January 2). “China v Japan: Who is at fault? ”. BBC. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-25580979.
Song, Sophie (2014, March 22). “Japanese Companies Shift Investment To Vietnam As Thailand And China Become Less Attractive”. International Business Times. Retrieved from
Hayashi, Yuka (2014, March 22). “China’s PR on Islands Beats Japan’s, Say U.S. Military Experts”. Wall Street Journal Blog. Retrieved from http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2014/03/26/chinas-pr-on-islands-beats-japans-say-u-s-military-experts/
Barabantseva Elena, (2014). "How Do People Identify With Nations?”. Global Politics: A New Introduction. Print.
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Its interesting to see how the United States involves itself with the Iranian nuclear power but they haven't given as much attention whatsoever to Japan building its own nuclear power. If we want to eliminate all forms of nuclear power we need to be making sure we are informed and paying attention to all world disputes rather than just our own. Tensions in China and Japan can grow fast and end badly if something is not done to halt the rising conflict.
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