A dispute over a chain of islands in Asia between China and Japan has been heating up and may even lead to war, but the backdrop of the conflict is really between the United States and China.
“There is a danger of China and Japan having a military conflict,” Yan Xuetong, one of China’s most influential foreign policy strategists told the Telegraph. “One country must make a concession. But I do not see Japan making concessions. I do not see either side making concessions.”
The US role in this and various other Asian territorial disputes is not one of a neutral player trying to avoid escalation. Rather, the US has pursued an aggressive posture of expanding military assets in the region and teaming up with all of China’s neighboring rivals to side with them on territorial issues in a nationalistic scheme to block China’s rise as a world power.
Importantly, the US and Japan have a long-lasting deal that any fight Japan is confronted with, America will be there to help.
“I do not think [the US] will send soldiers to fight against the People’s Liberation Army,” Xuetong said. “They will be involved, but they can be involved in many different ways, providing intelligence, ammunition, political support, logistical help and so on.”
The Obama administration’s hawkish policies towards China has aggravated the Chinese and emboldened the less powerful states like Japan, making for a muscular clash ahead.
“In terms of the economy, China and the US are partners. But in terms of security, they are rivals. We both know we cannot get along. Both sides are always alert to the other’s military policy,” he said.
“In the future, the military relationship will become more important. There is a simple reason for this: American hegemony is based on military capability and the military gap with China. When China narrows that gap, it will scare the US,” Xuetong said.
“Signs of a potential harsh reaction are already detectable,” a recent CSIS report said. “The US Asia pivot has triggered an outpouring of anti-American sentiment in China that will increase pressure on China’s incoming leadership to stand up to the United States. Nationalistic voices are calling for military countermeasures to the bolstering of America’s military posture in the region and the new US defense strategic guidelines.”
What does China have to do with the War on Terror? I thought our great enemy was Islamic Terrorism? I thought this was the Great Clash of Civilizations? I thought we had to fight the Long War for the next 80 years in order to defeat this terrible threat? I thought that is why we invaded Iraq and Afghanistan? I thought the Greatest Threat was Iran.
Now they are telling us that the Great Threat is China? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE???
China has little to do with the Terror War. They are separate conflicts driven by different fundamentals. China vs US is a classic rising power against established power conflict, a dynamic that has occurred throughout history. The West vs Islam is a more fundamental and long term clash of civilizations over ultimate control of all Humanity.
I wonder how the US will frame its response to this incident. While the neoconservative, knee-jerk reaction might be to throw its weight behind a provocative Japan, surely the powers that be cannot have overlooked that China will be outraged as not since the US army was at the banks of the Yalu river. Surely they cannot have forgotten that China owns 1.3 trillion in US debt.
The only way to deal with China is through deficit reform. If we have control on our finances, we can add any tariff to compensate for the undervalued yaun. I hate neo cons too, but having no industrial policy has impoverished the US. A much better game to play then containment in my opinion.
JK
China should just march in and take the islands … Japan is no match for them; and in any case never came close to penance or punishment for the horrors they inflicted on China in the past; and methinks the US is rather too busy Jack-Booting it's way round too many other areas of the World.
Someone's got to successfully stuff it to these fascist hegemons sometime. A day at a time.
Dennis Revell.
Japan, return the Diaoyu islands to Taiwan. You took them treacherously and should have returned to China after the war. Own up to your mistakes and act responsibly and stop dragging the US into your own shameful land grabs.
The only islands you are entitled to are the Southern Kuriles which have always been yours–go claim them from the Russians.