History: until 1968 both the PRC and ROC considered the Senkakus to be Japanese and all their maps and documents said so. Suddenly, when oil was announced beneath the Senkakus in 1968, both Chinese governments manufactured a claim to them. It would be great if someone somewhere in the media actually mentioned this history aloud.
If China keeps acting this way, Japan will go nuclear out of fear that China will go beyond words and try to settle disputes with massive force.
And if we play our cards right, China will cause a reaction among their neighbors to seek us out to blunt Chinese claims on their lands and waters (or just international waters).
And finally, were all those Sinophiles who thought China was brilliant at using "soft" power to expand their influence just soft in the head and willing to call any Chinese act "brilliant" (and don't forget they take "the long view!") or did China decide to go "hard" recently. Either way, the answer is useful to know.
