ABSTRACT
To avoid conflict and instead promote peace, cooperation and friendship, China and Japan must handle the Diaoyu island affair carefully, properly and competently. China and Japan should confirm that peace and friendship are the foundations of Sino-Japanese relations, defuse the dangerous stand-off they have found themselves in, and avoid unnecessary conflict over the Diaoyu islands. China and Japan should make every effort to escape this vicious road map and switch to an alternative, virtuous road map; starting a dialogue over the Diaoyu islands may be the welcome start to such a switch. Maritime mutual confidence-building measures and crisis-management mechanisms need to be established. The year 2018 marked the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Sino-Japanese Treaty of Peace and Friendship. The China-Japan relationship should, and can, return to the correct spirit as established in 1978 by this landmark treaty.
