Despite the fact that China and Japan brought their Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands dispute grievances to the U.N. General Assembly last month, there has been little traction at the negotiating table. In fact, the world seems preoccupied with conflicts in the Middle East.
Yet given the level of intensity escalating around the East China Sea island dispute between China and Japan -- with both countries ramping up military presence at sea, engaging in violent protest, pulling out businesses and heckling U.S. diplomatic presence -- it is worth the United States getting more involved. It is worth it for them, too.
The conflict could be devastating to their economies. Trade between Asia's two largest economies has tripled over the past decade to more than $340 billion. China is now Japan's major export market.
As a Japanese American who is one of the members of Congress serving on the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, I think it is imperative we keep this conflict from escalating. That doesn't mean we take sides.
In sensitive situations like this, biasing one party helps little in de-escalating potentially violent conflict. It does mean, however, that we need to understand both perspectives before mediating a way forward.
Why should America engage? Not simply because we said we would as we pivoted our foreign relations focus toward the Asia Pacific, but because it's in our financial and diplomatic interests.
First, with economies slowing in China and Japan and shipping routes affected, the effect will be felt soon in the United States.
Second, this is a preventable conflict and a third party is needed before bluster becomes bombings.
So what does engagement look like? For China, these are the "Diaoyu" islands. They were in China's hands long before Japan laid claim to the islands in the late 1800s. For Japan, these are the "Senkaku" islands. Their recent purchase by the Japanese government from a private owner has sparked protests. This conflict is primarily about historic grievances, identity and nationalism.
The U.N. General Assembly would have been the best forum for a conversation on how the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea might apply, but it was not used.
The United States, however, along with several of its European Union allies, is well positioned to convene a constructive conversation on resolving this conflict. If China objects to having the United States do the convening, then Washington can help find another interlocutor. Either way, the dispute is not going away.
If the United States is going to take sides, it would be wise to take both sides.
If this conflict becomes violent on the East China Sea, then we will see shipping thwarted, more factories closed, costs of imports climb and other foreign policy decisions affected.
The time is now for the United States to sit down with China and Japan to chart a way out of this dispute. Waiting is not an option.
Rep. Mike Honda, D-San Jose, is co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus' Peace and Security Task Force. This article first ran in San Francisco Chronicle.
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Today I found an interesting analysis of the Senkaku/Diaoyu situation written jointly by two Canadian academics, one analyzing the China perspective, one analyzing the Japan perspective. Perhaps you will find it useful as you try to suss out what role (if any) the US can play to facilitate a peaceful resolution. Here is the link: http://www.asiapacific.ca/canada-asia-agenda/diaoyusenkaku-dispute-analyzing-chinese-and-japanese-perspec
In the case of the CCP, it is much too late for the cruel CCP to save itself. It is not from any outside enemy that the Party will destruct, it will self destruct because it is rotten from the inside out. This is just my understanding, thank you.
War is no longer profitable like it once was. We know that from our current and recent engagements. Peace is how we need to proceed from here, and not because we're so wonderfully advanced in morality, but because peace is how we make money now. Maybe China and Japan won't go to war in the traditional sense of death and destruction, but an economic war is no less damaging overall.
Mediation is necessary. We should try to resolve this situation diplomatically, and the US is a good mediator, seeing as how all three countries need us and our money for their prosperity. I'd much prefer we involved ourselves in peaceful solutions to global conflicts, to be honest.
After China turned red in 1949, United States, instead of punishing Japan for its war time atrocities committed against peace loving people during the Japanese occupations, disregarded what the Cairo Declaration and Postdam Delaration called for as the post second world war order and started treating Japan as its junior partner in Asia in order to contain the then Communist China. We Chinese never had a chance to punish those savage Japanese soldiers who had massacred over 30 million Chinese during its 8 years of millitary occupation of most of China including over 300,000.00 unarmed civilians in Nanjing where I was born and grew up.
These little rocks have always and will continue to belong to China, regardless of what the US will or will not do. The US will not be willing to risk a nuclear strike on its mainland for sticking its nose into this situation. We're talking about a superpower that has been bullied and wronged in the past, and will no longer step back. The Japanese will just have to give their toys back, and say sorry.
And many (maybe even most) Okinawans do want to be a free nation as they originally were. Pat Morita (Mr. Miyagi from The Karate Kid) was a huge advocate of Okinawa's freedom. Without international backing, they have no chance. China being on their side would be a huge boon to their struggle.
I am not sure America want to put herself in this position.
We should use diplomacy now. But if a war does break out, of course we should take sides. Japan is our ally, a democracy, and we have a treaty to protect that nation from aggression. China is a communist nation and our continued dealings with them are driving us into debt while growing their military.
This should underscore how Americans need to stop being reliable on Chinese manufacturing and and debt. We are weakened in our ability to deal with China because our reliance on their manufacturing. Free trade doesn't work when your trade partner has very little in common.
Do not bring up old western colonialism problems in false arguments. You live in a propaganda world and do not see the whole hypocritical truth in front of your eyes.
Maybe China could also open some casinos in Tibet so the monks will stop burning themselves? Maybe the Uighurs feel similar to the native Americans when countless Han people move into their lands and push them out? Not so different to the terrible imperialist colonialism of the West, is it?
Also, be careful with your naive cheerleading for war. You just might get what you ask for, only to tragically realise that it won't unfold as miraculously as you so confidently predict. What you say about effortless space war is optimistically mythical nonsense. Remember instead the very real Japanese crimes in Nanking, and do everything you can to avoid war.
In reality the West actually fought modern Japan and won, but China never has.
Maybe if you stopped boasting about how you can "operate" Japan and "sideline" the United States, you could open your eyes to the actual truths of history. If war happens, many innocent Chinese and Japanese people, including children, will die because of some islands uninhabited by anything except national pride.
War is awful, not glorious.
Only a fool wishes loudly for his own destruction.