ABSTRACT
The cover of The Economist on 22 September 2012 displayed a picture of Senkaku/Diaoyu Island and asked: ‘Could China and Japan really go to war over these? Sadly, yes.’ The two most powerful countries in East Asia, China and Japan, have long had a complex and difficult relationship. The two have fought major wars (1894–5 and 1937–45) and have an outstanding territorial dispute over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands, resulting in much recent journalistic ink being spilled on the subject. The broader and more dangerous issue is whether the two powers might clash again, a clash that would likely involve the USA, which is allied with Japan.
