E.H. Munro

In fairness to BS Godzilla is on their side these days.

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"Opium is the religion of the masses." Fred Reed

The Power of 99 Press

"He thinks it's going to be fun being governor. It's only fun being governor of New York if you have money to spend, and I spent it all." Nelson Rockefeller on his successor, Hugh Carey.

Bogg

Nobody's saying that we're going to go to war with China over these islands or that they're going to do their best to sink the economy further. However, they can be a pain in the ass when it comes to getting things through in the UN if they have a mind to do so, and they also double as just about the only country that can tell North Korea what to do and when to do it. I promise you it's better to not have China mad at us.

e-monk

how would them being an obstacle on the security council be a change of pace?

Bogg

So you're saying that there's nothing China can do to make things more difficult?

e-monk

I'm saying they already do plenty of that - last I checked they werent being that effective handling north korea either - and that which they could do at this point isnt in their best interests any way and china strikes me as a supremely rational actor

Bogg

...and relations can always get frostier, and they can always do more to create problems. Just because they don't rubber stamp everything we do doesn't mean they methodically block everything we do, either. Are you saying it's in the countrys' best interest to get involved in an emotionally charged standoff between China and Japan?

Diable

We are involved. The Japanese are our allies. When the Chinese go sticking their fingers in the Japanese's eyes they are doing the same to us. More to the point they want these disputes to be settled on the basis of their military power. In case you've never read a history book, that's a very poor precedent to allow.

What will probably happen if it escalates is that the Japanese (and perhaps the South Koreans) will go Nuclear. Both nations are almost certainly prepared to very quickly acquire nuclear weapons if they think that this is a necessity. Obviously the Chinese would be less inclined to bully them around if they had to worry about starting a Nuclear War every time they started showing their asses.

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e-monk

like I said china is a rational actor, methodically blocking everything we do isnt in their best interest within their own sphere of influence let alone on the world stage - our relationship(s) with china are too symbiotic/parasitic at this point

Krstic All-Star

This is an area in which I've done some work, so I'm a tad limited, but the issue isn't as simple as a longstanding emotionally-derived issue between China and Japan. China is looking to gain hegemony over the South China Sea and certain other strategically important maritime areas, and has been looking to chip away at the US naval presence in particular. So we're already involved in the larger jockeying irrespective of any specifically Chinese/Japanese quarrels.

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Bogg

Now, South Korea is an ally worth defending, but I wouldn't hate it if we stopped footing the bill so completely for the worlds' navy. I still don't agree that Chinese-Japanese tensions have no negative impact on the US.