PRESS

JAPAN’S NEIGHBORHOOD GETS ROUGHER
Mounting pressures close to home, including China’s
rise and North Korea’s unpredictability, largely
explain the quickening pace of Japan’s normalization.
China’s assertiveness in the East China Sea over
the past 5 years has been most troubling to Japan.
In September 2010, China reacted vociferously after
Japanese law enforcement arrested a Chinese fishing
boat skipper who was filmed ramming Japanese Coast
Guard vessels in the waters off the Senkaku Islands.
Beijing used economic coercion, cutting off Japan’s
only supply of rare earth minerals critical to electronic
manufactures.
After Tokyo nationalized the Senkakus in September
2012, Chinese maritime law enforcement flotillas
began making the rounds in the disputed waters near
the islands, and China has insisted that the regular patrols
are routine. In response, Japanese Coast Guard
vessels have been working overtime to monitor and
trail every Chinese “intrusion,” lest Tokyo concede
Beijing’s jurisdictional claims. Japan and China have
been staring each other down in the East China Sea
ever since.
Beyond the Senkakus dispute, Japan and China
are locked in a budding naval rivalry. As China’s
rapidly modernizing navy extends its reach, it has become
commonplace for Chinese naval flotillas to sail
through Japanese-held narrow seas. Beginning in 2008
as sporadic forays into the Pacific, these expeditions
now take place regularly year round. Moreover, the
Chinese navy has steadily expanded the scope of its
peacetime operations.
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