Prime Minister Abe said that the Japan-China dispute had certain features in common with pre-World War I Britain and Germany that should be a warning flag:
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has said Japan and China should avoid repeating the past mistakes of Britain and Germany, which fought in World War One despite strong economic ties, according to his main government spokesman in Tokyo.
He said nothing that I haven't noted again and again--the notion that trade ties preclude war is ludicrous. I've even mentioned that trade ties among European states were rather high in 1913. I've mentioned this in regard to America and China to spell out that we shouldn't be complacent about whether a war could break out between the two of us. The caution applies to Japan and China, too.
Abe wasn't threatening to go to war. He was warning against taking actions that could spiral into war notwithstanding false but comforting notions that it would be inconceivable for the two to go to war.
But by all means, ignore the obvious truth if that keeps you from sleeping at night.
