Japanese Nationalists Occupy Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands
Quote:
“We are all gearing up for an international tug of war in this region,” said Narushige Michishita, an expert on security issues at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo. “Whenever the distribution of power changes in a dramatic way, people start to redraw lines.”
That is precisely what is happening in the South China Sea, which has received more international attention than Japan’s territorial battles. But experts say the increasingly shrill war of words over disputed islands between Japan and its East Asian neighbors, including China and South Korea, is potentially more explosive. Unlike in the South China Sea, where the frictions center on competition for natural resources, the East Asian island disputes are more about history, rooted in lingering — and easily ignited — anger over Japan’s brutal dominance decades ago.
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I can understand the disputes in the South China Sea where there are real resources like oil at stake. This one seems rooted solely in nationalist sentiments based on events that happened half a century ago or more. Resolving these types of disputes without a loss of "face" will be very hard to do, I fear.