Back to the fore the issue of the archipelago disputed between China and Japan

The territorial dispute over the islands of the East China Sea , claimed by China but administered by Japan could become a dangerous diplomatic incident between the two countries , the worsening verbal tension going on between Beijing and Tokyo. On one hand, the Japanese defense minister has defined several naval raids in the waters off the islands , as an act of open threat to peace , while his Chinese counterpart has openly talked about acts of war possible countermeasures that Japan could undertake against the Chinese military . The disputed islands , called Senkaku by the Japanese and Diaoyu by the Chinese, are located about 200 kilometers northeast of Taiwan and 400 kilometers west of Okinawa, their location is considered strategic , both for military and commercial being positioned on routes passing cargo ships and are surrounded by a sea, in whose waters would present significant hydrocarbon deposits. In September 2012, the Japanese government had nationalized the islands including through the purchase from private landlords , generating a wave of protests very strong in China, where the topic is very sensitive even at the popular level , jeopardizing trade relations between the two countries , which also have an exchange of a large number of immigrants and activities in their respective countries. Since then, the Chinese warships patrol in the area has become a constant fact , balanced by the presence of Japanese military aircraft . The issue disputed archipelago should not be seen as single episode , the source Ides tension between the two countries, but should be seen in the more complex Chinese strategy , which aims to supremacy on the seas around its coasts , dictated by geopolitical and military necessity , but for commercial purposes , with the desire to be in control of the streets of maritime communications . Japan, which is one of the nations closer to the Chinese giant , fears this expansionism , even as economic compression factor for the marketing of its products and has the full support of the United States in the matter. For Washington , which has increasingly become the focus of its international policy the region of Southeast Asia , is due to the containment of Beijing, and for the prospects of development of the countries of the area, which promise to become a market in full expansion and then extensively developed , it is not just that, help its historical allies like Japan, but also South Korea , but it gives you a concrete policy course designed by Obama . However, the White House can not go too far , Beijing has repeatedly warned the U.S. that any interference in the matter will be considered an interference in Chinese . This explains the cautious attitude of U.S. diplomacy shown in recent times , which , in public, has not gone beyond general statements of support for the Japanese country . The reality , however, is that the United States follow the course of events very closely and have pledged their full support to Tokyo. Moreover, the statements made by the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who have warned China that the continuation of his behavior can not be resolved peacefully , reports that there is a wide coverage of the United States . At this dialectical development , which are the corollary repeated performances of strength, through military exercises and naval and air raids in the natural theater of the archipelago disputed , there is the counterpart of the diplomatic failure between the two countries that do not want to give in and get to a deal that will remedy the situation , as evidenced by the total absence of meetings between the two heads of state. No contacts between the two countries also unofficial the voltage level is set to rise , with the constant risk that an accident involuntary motion a dangerous chain reaction , but even without the occurrence of this possibility, the most likely situation is an intensification of the respective provocation , without any positive outcome , in an endless alteration of the balance of relations between the two countries.