China accuses Japan of threatening Pacific peace with military law

Let's just how dangerous China, I mean Japan really is?  Did Japan create a military exclusion zone in territories claimed by China? No, but China did when they claimed ownership of the Senkaku islands which have been part of Japan since 1898.  Did Japan claim it owned the whole of the East China sea or the Sea of Japan simply because their name is on it? No, of course not. China though created and claimed 90% of the South China sea when they issued their Dash 9 map in November of 2014.  Japan hasn't constructed artificial islands to further its territorial claims, but China has.  Who's threatening the peace in Asia? It certainly isn't  Japan.  That said when the Japanese Diet passed those security laws in September of last year even though public opinion was overwhelming against their passage which included large demonstrations.  


Claims follows passing of law allowing Japanese troops to fight on foreign soil for first time since end of second world war

China has accused Japan’s “warlord” prime minister, Shinzo Abe, of threatening peace in the region, following the enactment on Tuesday of controversial laws allowing Japanese troops to fight on foreign soil for the first time since the end of the second world war.

The security laws, which were passed last September after chaotic scenes in parliament, reinterpret the country’s pacifist constitution to enable Japan to exercise collective self-defence – or coming to the aid of the US and other allies – in overseas conflicts.

In an online commentary, the state-run Xinhua news agency accused Abe of abandoning Japan’s postwar constitution, which limits the military to a purely defensive role, saying the move would “only serve to endanger the Japanese public’s right to live in peace”.

This epic map shows the border disputes that could tear Asia apart

Another Person Who Doesn't Understand Shinzo Abe

Japan has taken a fateful step toward becoming a “normal” power by adoptingthe doctrine of “collective self-defense”, paving the way for Tokyo to play a more direct role in ensuring stability in international waters as well as in aiding allies in times of crisis. It took a combination of iron-willed leadership, under Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, and deepening territorial disputes with China over the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands in the East China Sea to force Japan to take greater responsibility for its own national defense.

Iron-willed leadership?  It's obvious that author has no clear understanding of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the policies they wish to enact.  Changing the Japanese constitution specifically Article 9 has been a long term goal of the ultra-conservative wing of the LDP  since the 1990's. Abe's first term as Prime Minister ended because his one and only policy goal was to force that change. Japanese public opinion quickly turned against Abe and he was forced to resign.

As expected, China has been perturbed by the resurgence of its archrival, Japan. And the Xi Jinping administration has spared no efforts to denigrate its counterparts in Tokyo. Aware of lingering regional anxieties over Japan’s early-twentieth century imperial aggression, especially in South Korea, Beijing hassought to convince the world that Japan is purportedly reassuming its militaristic past. Any sober analysis, however, would suggest that the real bone of contention is an emerging Chinese-Japanese contest for regional leadership, as Washington gets more comfortable with playing the role of an offshore balancer. Gradually, bitter territorial disputes have seemingly rekindled a century-old rivalry for the soul of Asia.

While most of Asia has moved beyond Japan's imperial past China and the Communist party continues to use that fear of imperial Japan for domestic consumption to create a nationalistic furor amongst the population.

The tumultuous memories of World War II continue to cast a long shadow on Japanese society. But as any astute political leader, Abe has instead opted for reinterpreting existing provisions of the Japanese constitution, striking a tenuous balance between Tokyo’s evolving security calculus, on the one hand, and the pacifist spirit of Japan’s constitution, which prohibits the country from using coercive means to settle international disputes, on the other.

 An astute political leader? Who are you kidding. He's not astute at anything, He's a racist, ultra nationalist, war crimes denier and a historical revisionist.  Unfortunately the Japanese public is ready to sail down that river again so Abe will force the changes through no matter what the people want. 

The Irony Is In The Name: Ishihara, old guard launch Next Generation Party

Shintaro Ishihara the former governor of Tokyo has formed yet another political party given the appropriate name Next Generation.  Ishihara is 81 and the other founding members are all over 70 yet they represent the "Next Generation."

Ishihara's previous party Japan Restoration was formed with Osaka Toru Hashimoto who is a younger version of Ishihara.  Racist, ultra nationalist and historical revisionist.

Next Generation Party (次世代の党).
The 81-year-old Ishihara, a fixture on the fringes of government for decades, has been in search of a new moniker for his party of mostly-elderly men since falling out with Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, with whom he jointly led the Japan Restoration Party.
The grouping of about 20 lawmakers include sworn allies, 74-year-old Takeo Hiranuma, Hiroyuki Sonoda, 72, and Nariaki Nakayama, 71, as well as wrestler-turned-politician Antonio Inoki, 71.
At a press event to reveal the party’s name, whose official English translation has not yet been decided, the firebrand Ishihara noted: “The situation that faces young people today is different from what we experienced.”

He's partly responsible for the current diplomatic chill between China and Japan when in February of 2012 he began soliciting private funds to purchase the Senkaku island from their private owner living in Saitama.  

China Decides That Stupid Is Best

In February of 2012 the racist, ultra nationalist and complete asshole former governor of Tokyo  Shintaro Ishihara decided to solicit private funds for the the purchase of three of the Senkaku islands  held by a private party from Saitama.  All in an effort to force the government at that time to make a definitive statement over the ownership of a group of uninhabited islands.  Tokyo decided to nationalise the islands believing that it would head off a political confrontation with China.

Just the opposite happened when anti Japanese riots broke out in China egged on by the government.
All in an effort to force Japan to recognize  China's claim of the Senkaku islands.  Of course the Japanese has never backed down from its position of ownership and now China accuses Japan of being the aggressor.

 
    

China accuses Japan of dangerous flying in air zone

 

Beijing hit back Thursday at Tokyo’s claims of “dangerous” flying near disputed islands, accusing Japanese fighter jets of coming recklessly close to a Chinese aircraft last year.

Two Japanese F-15 fighter planes came within 10 meters of a Chinese Y-8 transport aircraft over the East China Sea on November 23, defense ministry spokesman Geng Fusheng said, according to a transcript on the ministry’s website.

“We conducted an effective response to dangerous Japanese close surveillance, and have conclusive evidence (of the incident),” he said.

Beijing raised tensions in November when it declared an air defense identification zone (ADIZ) covering the East China Sea, overlapping a similar Japanese zone and covering islands bitterly disputed between the two nations.

China just can't stop its self

Chinese fighters fly within 30 metres of plane, Japan claims

China in November declared a military exclusion zone just because they could which goes long with the maps released to show China's territorial claims which included 90% of the South China sea.  Areas within the maps borders include lands which, by any measure are part of the nations of Brunei, Vietnam and the Philippines.  Yet, China blames those nations for the current problems which they have exacerbated by aggressive actions.

Tokyo: Chinese fighter jets flew within a few dozen metres of Japanese military planes over the East China Sea, Japanese officials said, prompting the Defence Minister to accuse Beijing of going "over the top" in its approach to disputed territory.

The Chinese jets came as close as 50 metres to a Japanese surveillance plane near disputed islets on Saturday and within 30 metres of an electronic intelligence aircraft, the ministry said on Sunday.

"Closing in while flying normally over the high seas is impossible," Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera told reporters in comments broadcast on TV Asahi. "This is a close encounter that is outright over the top."

  Tensions have been running high between China and its neighbours over Beijing's assertive stand on claiming land and sea territory. China lays claim to Japanese-administered islets in the East China Sea, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. It is also pressing its claim to almost all the South China Sea, brushing aside claims by several south-east Asian states.

    

Japanese Plan To Piss-Off The Neighbors

Japan to conduct island defense drill amid tension with China

This will just wind-up China to no end.  They'll accuse Japan of all kinds of things, from threatening to invade China and the whole of Asia to a return to the days before World War II when the country was ruled by a military dictatorship.  Even as China doubles its defense spending in all areas while threatening the sovereignty of several countries in Southeast Asia.

(Reuters) - Japan will conduct a military exercise this month to practice defending an island, the Defense Ministry said on Thursday, underscoring concern about East China Sea islands controlled by Japan but claimed by China.

The dispute over the islands, called the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, has raised fears of a clash between the Asian neighbors which could even drag in the United States.

Separately, China said on Wednesday it would carry out naval exercises with Russia in the East China Sea in what it called a bid to deepen military cooperation.

Japan's Defense Ministry said the island defense exercise would run from May 10 to May 27 on a small uninhabited island in the Ryukyu chain, some 600 km (375 miles) northeast of the disputed isles.

  

How Japan’s prime minister is shaking things up-video

Japan’s waters are full of riptides, but the country’s prime minister isn’t opposed to taking a dip.

U.S. President Barack Obama met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe Thursday, the first stop on his high-stakes tour to four key American allies in Asia.

Notably absent from his list of destinations is China, whose huge economic growth, and the influence that comes with it, looms large over the region.

President Obama has reiterated his commitment to America’s security agreement with Japan, albeit while sticking as much as possible to dry, diplomatic language.

“Territories under the administration of Japan are covered under the treaty,” he said. “There's no shift in position, no red line; we're simply applying the treaty.”

If there’s apprehension in that statement, it is because Japan’s conservative Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, has upended the commitment to pacifism that has defined post-World War II Japan.

U.S. warns China not to try Crimea-style action in Asia

China should not doubt the U.S. commitment to defend its Asian allies and the prospect of economic retaliation should also discourage Beijing from using force to pursue territorial claims in Asia in the way Russia has in Crimea, a senior U.S. official said on Thursday.
Daniel Russel, President Barack Obama's diplomatic point man for East Asia, said it was difficult to determine what China's intentions might be, but Russia's annexation of Crimea had heightened concerns among U.S. allies in the region about the possibility of China using force to pursue its claims.
"The net effect is to put more pressure on China to demonstrate that it remains committed to the peaceful resolution of the problems," Russel, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asia, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

China doesn't need to use force to obtain its goals in the South China military intimidation through its build of its forces with increased defense spending seems to be doing the trick.

What Happens If China Claims Most of South China sea?

Last year China issued a map clarifying  its territory and its exclusive economic zone in reference to a large portion of the South China sea.  The map called 9 dot extends into the exclusive economic zones of Brunei, Malaysia, Philippines and Vietnam.  Looking at the map below the red line is the area claimed by China comes within the territories which would be within the borders of the aforementioned  nations.   The blue lines indicate the exclusive economic zones of the countries China is in dispute with over the area shown.

In the case of the Scarborough Shoal claimed both by China sent naval vessels into the surrounding waters attempting to intimidate the Philippines and its military.   China believes it worked and that they now control the Scarborough Shoal.  Chia feels these same tactics can used in its any territorial disputes with the nations in the South China sea and its dispute with Japan and the Senkaku islands.

     'Asserting control'

"There are growing concerns that this pattern of behaviour in the South China Sea reflects incremental effort by China to assert control over the area... despite objections of its neighbours," Mr Russel told a congressional committee.

"Any Chinese claim to maritime rights not based on claimed land features would be inconsistent with international law," he said.

'Amateurish politician'

On Wednesday, China's state news agency branded Philippine President Benigno Aquino a "disgrace" for comments in connection with the territorial row in which he compared China to Nazi Germany.

Mr Aquino called for world leaders not to appease China over its claims in the South China Sea in the same way nations tried to appease Hitler before World War Two.

"At what point do you say: 'Enough is enough'? Well, the world has to say it. Remember that the Sudetenland [part of what was then called Czechoslovakia] was given in an attempt to appease Hitler to prevent World War Two," Mr Aquino said in an interview with the New York Times on Tuesday.

An angry commentary on the state-run Xinhua news agency branded Mr Aquino an "amateurish politician who was ignorant both of history and reality".

The Pacifist War

Is war looming as Japan strengthens its military power and tensions escalate over disputed East China Sea islands?


When Shinzo Abe was first elected Prime Minister of Japan in 2006 it wasn't a surprise as he came from a politically connected family. His father in law on his wife's side of the family was Nobusuke Kishi who served in the Japanese war cabinet during World War II also served as Prime Minister of Japan from 1957 to 1958. Though Kishi served in the wartime cabinet he was never tried for the crimes committed by the Tojo led government and was released from Sugamo in 1948. Like Kishi Shinzo Abe is a strident nationalist, war crimes denier and historical revisionist.

Seeking a return to power Abe softened his nationalist rhetoric during the 2012 December campaign. Winning election with a huge mandate Abe has sought to revise Japan's post World War II pacifist constitution which prevents Japan from having an actual military in name therefore its called the self defense force. What Abe wants is a referendum for the constitutional changes he wants voted on by the Japanese voting populace. He also intends to hold public hearings giving the public a chance to voice their approval or opposition to the proposed changes. But like everything else in Japan it will be completely scripted so that only those who approve of the changes will be given a voice while those in opposition will be silenced.

In the waters of the East China Sea, a daily show of aggression is displayed around the uninhibited Senakaku/Diaoyutai Islands. Coast guards from China and Japan play a dangerous game of cat and mouse as both sides try to lay claim to the disputed resource-rich territory. The concern is - that the two powers are riding towards war.

101 East presenter Steve Chao takes a trip to the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyutai Islands, 200km from Taiwan and 2,000km from Tokyo. This region is home to rich fishing grounds and potential gas deposits.

With China’s growing hostility and nuclear missile threats from North Korea, Japan’s newly-elected Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vows to strengthen the country’s military power to defend the islands at all cost. And that task falls on Japan’s Self-Defense Force (SDF), made up of ground, maritime and air units.

Balloon Man Falls From Sky: To The Senkaku Islands

A fearless Chinese Balloon Man fell to earth and it wasn't from heaven in fact in managed to miss land completely.   In towering show of stupidity the gentleman in question is a cook which obviously qualifies him to pilot a hot air balloon to the Senkaku islands from mainland China and land it in the East China sea.

A Chinese man flying a hot air balloon to a group of disputed islands had to be rescued after his balloon crashed, Japan's Coast Guard has said.

The man, who said he was a cook, was heading to an East China Sea island chain controlled by Japan, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.

The man had been handed to a Chinese patrol ship, the coast guard said.

The islands are close to potential oil and gas reserves, and are a source of tension between the two countries.

The Japanese Coast Guard said they received a request to search for a missing person on Wednesday afternoon.

They found the man and the hot air balloon around 20km (12 miles) from the islands. The man was not hurt, reports said.

 

Could Shin Abe's visit to Yasukuni Shrine result in armed conflict with China?

That's a question that should be asked given the state of diplomatic  relations between the world's second and third largest economies.

Simply stated Shinzo Abe's visit to Yasukuni Shrine wasn't meant as his way of praying for peace and non aggression the purpose was to show China's leaders that no matter how much they complained about Japanese foreign or military policy, he Abe was going follow his beliefs which are strongly nationalistic.

Already-frayed ties in the region will be further damaged by what Abe claimed was a pledge against war, but what one-time victims of Japan’s aggression see as a glorification of past militarism.
Abe’s forthright views on history—he has previously questioned the definition of “invade” in relation to Japan’s military adventurism last century—have raised fears over the direction he wants to take officially-pacifist Japan.
“His ultimate goal is to revise the (pacifist) constitution,” said Tetsuro Kato, professor emeritus at Tokyo’s Hitotsubashi University. He is “arrogant and running out of control”.

He questioned the meaning of invade?  When one nation uses its military to take control of another country without provocation that's usually summed up in the word invasion. Shinzo Abe isn't alone in these types of revisionist beliefs a majority of the members of his party the Liberal Democrats  share his views on history.

He sent shock waves around the region when he went to pray at Yasukuni Shrine on Thursday, the anniversary of his coming to power and just days after approving the second consecutive annual budget rise for Japan’s military.
Partly, the money will be used to buy stealth fighters and amphibious vehicles intended to boost Japan’s ability to defend remote islands, the government said, citing fears over Beijing’s behavior in a row over the sovereignty of an East China Sea archipelago.

Japan and China have been at odds over the Senkaku Islands since the 1970's when the prospect of large amounts of natural gas and oil might be present in the waters surrounding the islands.  It was never overt just a quiet diplomatic  dispute.   That all changed in 2012 when the former governor of Tokyo Shintaro Ishihara proposed  the creation of a private fund to purchase the islands from their private owners.  Because Shintaro Ishihara is an ultra nationalist and a  racist his proposed purchase of those islands set off a firestorm of protests from the Chinese government.

What followed was attempts by  nationalists from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan to land on the islands claiming them as their nations  sovereign territory.  In September of that year the Japanese government announced the purchase of the islands from their private owner and nationalized them in bid to keep nationalists from the various nations claiming the islands from landing on them.

China's response.  The government began sending Coast Guard ships into the waters around the islands along with over flights by military aircraft. As a counter move Japan has increased its own Coast Guards presence in the area along with the repositioning of Ground Self  Defense Forces equipment and personnel to Kyushu and Okinawa.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to return Japan to its glorified past when it wasn't just an economic power but a military one as well.  Here's the problem Abe views this past through rose colored glasses failing to acknowledge the harm caused by Japan's imperialist adventures in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Could there be armed conflict between Japan and China? Sure anything is possible but its more likely to take the form of those which occur between North and South Korea if they happen at all. Both sides would lose in any military action taken by the other as it would not only disrupt their economies but the social fabric of both nations.

China denounces Japanese military strategy

Let's see?  China comes in second behind the United States in military spending year on year.  Until the election of Shinzo Abe last December Japan's defense spending had decreased over the last four years.  Even with this increase in spending the Japanese will spend just 5% of their overall budget on defense.
Given China's decision to claim large portions of the East and South China seas thus coming into conflict not only with Japan but, the Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam and Malaysia over territories these nations presently control.  

China's has used its naval and air forces to reinforce its claims along with creating an air defense zone over the Senkaku Islands which are Japanese territory.

Somehow China which is more than twice the size of Japan and with a population of more than a billion people they feel threatened by Japan's 2% increase in defense appropriations.

Defence Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said in a statement that the move would increase regional tensions, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Earlier this week, Japan said it would buy advanced equipment including drones and amphibious vehicles.

It comes as Tokyo is embroiled in a bitter row with Beijing over islands in the East China Sea that both claim.

"China is firmly opposed to Japan's relevant actions," said Mr Geng.

He accused Tokyo of using its national security as a pretext for military expansion.

 Military expansion?  What does this fool think?  That Japan is going to invade China in order to satisfy some weird need to start a war.  How delusional does one have to be before they are considered a joke.



  

     

China scrambles jets in air defence zone

China has decided that to follow the 19th century American ideology of manifest destiny which implies that given our superior culture and society we have the right to impose upon the surrounding nations our geopolitical vision.  That hubris led to the downfall of  European imperialism and the contraction of Americas territorial ambitions.

China says it scrambled fighter jets to monitor US and Japanese planes as they flew in its newly declared air defence zone in the East China Sea on Friday.

The zone covers territory claimed by China, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea.

China said last week that all aircraft crossing through the zone must file flight plans and identify themselves or face "defensive emergency measures".

The US, Japan and South Korea say they have since defied the ruling and flown military aircraft in the area.

The air defence identification zone (ADIZ) includes islands known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, which are claimed by Japan, China and Taiwan.

China Wants To Prove It Has The Biggest Cojones

In an effort to prove their cojones are larger and more powerful than everyone else's the Chinese government ordered fighter jets and a early warning radar aircraft into its air defense zone to protect China from whom ever it was they perceived to be attacking them.  I'm sure it was invisible zombies  but I can't be sure. Well, because they're invisible.

China's state news agency Xinhua quoted air force spokesman Col Shen Jinke as saying several fighter jets and an early warning aircraft had been deployed to carry out routine patrols as "a defensive measure and in line with international common practices".

He said the country's air force would remain on high alert and would take measures to deal with all air threats to protect national security.

In Xinhua's Chinese language version of the article, the colonel said the aircraft would "strengthen the monitoring of targets in the air defence zone and do their duty"

Japanese restraint in the face of Chinese efforts to modify the status quo is currently keeping the peace, potentially to the detriment of Japan's claim to the island”James ManicomExpert, China-Japan security issues

China-Japan disputed islands

• The archipelago consists of five uninhabited islands and three reefs
• Japan, China and Taiwan claim them; they are controlled by Japan and form part of Okinawa prefecture
• Japanese businessman Kunioki Kurihara owned three of the islands but sold them to the Japanese state in September 2012
• The islands were also the focus of a major diplomatic row between Japan and China in 2010

China says the establishment of the zone was "completely justified and legitimate", but it has been widely condemned.

US B52 Bombers Fly Over Senkaku Islands Unannounced

Two American B-52 bombers flew over a disputed island chain in the East China Sea on Monday evening, a U.S. defense official confirmed, just days after the Chinese government included the area in an air defense identification zone.

The official said the flight was a training mission and the bombers were not armed. The flight was first reported by The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday.

Monday evening ET, two B-52 bombers took off from Anderson Air Force Base in Guam as part of an ongoing training exercise called Coral Lightning Global Power Training Sortie. The bombers were in the ADIZ for less than one hour, Warren said.

This was a "long-planned training exercise," and the U.S. did not inform the Chinese of their flight plan, Warren said.

With this over flight its beyond obvious that the American government views the extension of the air defense zone by China as null and void.   How the Chinese government react?

China Decides That It Controls The Air Space Around The Senkaku Islands

On Saturday the Chinese Ministry of Defense announced that it had created an "air defence zone" over the Senkaku islands which are administered by Japan and have been since the 19th century.

Xinhua News Agency‏@XHNews

Announcement of the Aircraft Identification Rules for the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone of PRC

China  had no interest in these rocks until the possibility of gas and other natural resources might exist in the sea around the islands was announced in the early 1970's.   Even with that announcement China still showed little interest  in the Senkakus until the Japanese government purchased three of the islands from their private owner.  Suddenly all hell broke loose and the Chinese decided that those rocks were   an integral part of China.  Like everything else in the East and South China seas.

These territorial disputes are driving countries in the region to seek out the United States as an ally for fear that China's growing assertiveness could lead to armed conflict.

China's Defence Ministry said aircraft entering the zone must obey its rules or face "emergency defensive measures".
The zone came into effect from 10:00 local time (02:00GMT) on Saturday.
The islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, are a source of rising tension between the countries.
In its statement, the Defence Ministry said aircraft must report a flight plan, "maintain two-way radio communications", and "respond in a timely and accurate manner" to identification inquiries.
"China's armed forces will adopt defensive emergency measures to respond to aircraft that do not co-operate in the identification or refuse to follow the instructions," said the statement.
A map posted on Twitter by state news agency Xinhua showed the zone covering a wide area of the East China Sea, including regions very close to South Korea and Japan.

As this dispute escalates with this announcement putting further pressure and both countries armed forces.  What's to keep it from spiraling out of control because of a miscalculation by either sides military believing they defending their countries sovereign territory.

War of Words Continues Between Japan and China Over Senkaku Islands

Japan's Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera responded on Tuesday to a statement issued by China warning that any bid to shoot down its drones would constitute "an act of war".

Onodera stated that China's continued stance over the disputed islands was jeopardizing peace in the region.   The islands in question which are barley worthy of name are controlled  by Japan but claimed by China and Taiwan as it believed the area surrounding the islands has a large undeveloped field of natural gas.  Actual known reserves are unknown as there has been little in the way actual exploration or test wells drilled to give an estimate as how much natural gas is contained within the known field.

China and Japan had until last year kept the dispute outside of the public until Tokyo purchased three owned by a family from Saitama just north of Tokyo and nationalized them.  With that came open hostility from China including mass demonstrations and a boycott of Japanese made products.

To increase political pressure on Japan the Chinese government started sending Coast Guard and Air Force patrols into the immediate water and air space of the islands.  The Japanese government insists that there is no dispute with China as they control islands.
   

Japan and China: A clash of empires?

As the Asian giants pursue a war of words over the East China Sea islands, we ask if military conflict is inevitable.

The already strained relations between China and Japan have taken a turn for the worse after Japan's naval drills in the western Pacific where both countries are locked in a dispute over an uninhabited island group.

A year ago, Japan's decision to buy three islands in the East China Sea sparked protests and a boycott of Japanese goods across China. The territorial dispute continues and now the two countries are arguing over a disruption to a military exercise.

China's growing power, Japan's imperial legacy and a surge in nationalist sentiments on both sides - all have their part to play in the frayed relations.

The dispute over territory between Asia's most powerful nations is deepening and both sides are talking tougher than ever.

Both sides sent warplanes into disputed airspace and patrol boats pushed contested boundaries at sea.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says his nation is ready to be more assertive towards China. Abe, has warned his troops to "rid yourselves of the notion that just the existence of a defence force could act as a deterrent."

China has warned that any firing on its unmanned drone aircraft "would constitute a serious provocation, an act of war of sorts."