The Ground Self-Defense Force and the U.S. Marine Corps on Saturday held a joint drill on Guam aimed at bolstering their ability to defend remote islands.
The Japanese are quick to point out that these could be any remote islands and nothing aimed at China in particular.
I've noted that this is a very useful mission that doesn't require many ground forces.
UPDATE: I'm never reassured by analysts who say a war makes no sense and that neither China nor Japan wants a war over any small islands. How many European statesmen wanted a world war in 1914 over Austri-Hungary's dispute with Serbia?
And with China's economy arguably teetering, will China's rulers believe a splendid little war with Japan (or Taiwan or the Philippines) is just the thing the Communist Party needs to distract their subjects?
Or worse, will Peking be able to resist popular anger if one of their maritime agencies gets ahead of Chinese policy and begins a confrontation with Japan?
In what world do you live in where everything that happens makes sense to you?
