Japan and China Should Sit Down at the Negotiating Table

The Asia-Pacific region has achieved tremendous growth in the span of a single generation. Regrettably, a large and relatively disproportionate share of the fruits of that growth is going toward military expansion. The sources of instability include not only the threat of weapons of mass destruction, but also -- and more immediately -- efforts to alter the territorial status quo through force or coercion. And those efforts are taking place largely at sea. We do not welcome dangerous encounters by fighter aircraft and vessels at sea. What Japan and China must exchange are words. Should we not meet at the negotiating table, exchange smiles and handshakes, and get down to talking?
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A staff member of Japan's minister of economy, trade and industry, arranges Chinese and Japanese flags before a meeting between a group of Chinese business leaders led by Gao Xiqing, president of China Investment Corp., and Toshimitsu Motegi, minister at the ministry, both unseen, in Tokyo, Japan, on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2013. A group of heads of ten Chinese companies are on a five-day trip to Japan. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg via Getty Images
A staff member of Japan's minister of economy, trade and industry, arranges Chinese and Japanese flags before a meeting between a group of Chinese business leaders led by Gao Xiqing, president of China Investment Corp., and Toshimitsu Motegi, minister at the ministry, both unseen, in Tokyo, Japan, on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2013. A group of heads of ten Chinese companies are on a five-day trip to Japan. Photographer: Tomohiro Ohsumi/Bloomberg via Getty Images

From Project Syndicate

The Asia-Pacific region has achieved tremendous growth in the span of a single generation. Regrettably, a large and relatively disproportionate share of the fruits of that growth is going toward military expansion. The sources of instability include not only the threat of weapons of mass destruction, but also -- and more immediately -- efforts to alter the territorial status quo through force or coercion. And those efforts are taking place largely at sea.

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