Quote:
Originally Posted by Urzu 7
I know it isn't that simple, but still...I think Japan is going to back down from China because they probably won't step out of line over this, but still, if I was Japan, I wouldn't want to conflict too much with China.
|
What complicates all of this from the perspective of the United States is our
treaty obligations to Japan. The same concerns apply to China's dispute over the
Spratlys with the Philippines, another country with which we have a defense treaty.
Most of the naval encounters in the Spratlys have so far involved encounters between Chinese patrol boats and Filipino and Vietnamese fishing boats or oil exploration vessels. Two years ago a Chinese fishing boat
was intercepted by the Japanese Coast Guard for operating in Japanese territorial waters around the Senkakus. The arrest of the Chinese captain led to a major diplomatic spat between the two powers. China allegedly stopped shipping rare-earth minerals, an important component for electronics manufacturing, for two months after the incident.