| Publication |
2014.
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| Summary/Abstract |
Japan and China have been staring each other down in the East China Sea for well over a year now. Since Tokyo nationalized the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in September 2012, Chinese "maritime law enforcement flotillas" have been making the rounds in the disputed waters near the islands. China insists that the regular patrols are routine and normal. Japanese Coast Guard vessels have been working overtime to monitor and trail every Chinese intrusion, lest Tokyo concede Beijing's jurisdictional claims. Before this so-far low-decibel crisis began, it seemed unlikely that China would be willing to contest Tokyo's sovereignty over the uninhabited islands-islets is actually a better term to describe them-and administrative control over surrounding waters for as long as it has. And even fewer thought that Japan would be straining for an appropriate response. It is a testament to changing assumptions about China's growing ambitions that this protracted test of wills has gone largely unreported in the Western press. This cat-and-mouse game has seemingly become the new normal in maritime Asia.
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