Yesterday’s confrontation between Japanese and Taiwanese coastguard vessels hardly ranks among the great naval battles – the only weapons deployed were water cannon and the Taiwanese beat a dignified retreat after a few hours.
But the televised maritime contest certainly highlighted the rising passions surrounding the Senkaku islands, a tiny Japanese-controlled archipelago that is also claimed by Taiwan and – more dangerously – by China.
Worrying cracks have appeared in a diplomatic faultline that lay mostly quiet for decades, sparking heated talk among international commentators of a possible Sino-Japanese war.
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