Some ideas:
- Chinese trawlers are long suspected of allegedly playing a large part in Chinese naval operations, principally as data gatherers.
- The same trawlers are now likely being used as pawns in a game of maritime chess.
- China may be provoking Japan to measure its response and gauge its real power in the region.
- China may also be looking to see how the US reacts.
- Japan may be rising to the bait and, through equally vehement expressions of sovereignty, be caught in a predetermined and strategically planned escalation.
- Historically it seems likely that a military war could emerge as a result of am ongoing mercantilist confrontation. The dispute over rare earths, now encompassing Japan, China, the US and India could just be a taste of how China will use economic leverage to gain territorial advantage.
- Countries interested in a peaceful rise don't generally go around declaring whole swathes of ocean and land to be theirs, plant flags on the sea bed or point thousands of missiles at their neighbours. Perhaps I'm wrong, but a peaceful rise must be predicated on the basis of honest acknowledgement that national borders can be highly fluid and that economic concerns often play a large role in determining ownership. Multiple claims over one area must be treated sensitively and work towards collaboration that allows a significant level of joint access and use without the need for a formal declaration. It requires a high level of trust, a phenomenon startling absent from international politics and diplomatic relations.
