Even though many would like to think that nations go to war for some moral issue, many times in the past and even now it is over territory. What is the importance of gaining territory, it could be resources on it, trading routes or to further your influence. Right now in East and South East Asia territorial disputes are happening between many nations. Two highly powerful and influential nations are clashing heads in the East China Sea over the Senkaku Islands or the Diaoyu Island in main land China. Both China and Japan claim these islands as theirs and tensions are very high regarding them. China is also caught up in another territorial dispute in South China Sea. China along with the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, and Indonesia all have claims that conflict in the South East China Sea. These disputes have created high tensions, especially aggression pointed toward China and for now at least major military conflicts have been avoided between the nations.
The Senkaku Islands are claimed both by China and Japan and both sides what the other to back off immediately. Tensions between the two nations have in recent decades have been uneasy. China still condemns Japan for the atrocities the Japanese military committed during the Second World War and Japan unwillingness to fully apologize for these events. Japan annexed the islands in 1895, while China has stated that the islands have have belonged to them for centuries. Japan disputed this claim by stating that China did not show interest in the islands till oil was discovered near them in the 1970s. This dispute has sparked anti-Japanese protest in China. China has declared an Air Defense Identification Zone over the islands. An Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) allows any non-Chinese aircraft flying trough to identify themselves and keep contact with Chinese communications while in the area and if they do not comply, China will use jets to intercept the craft. The US has stepped in this situation acting as a mediator, but more then likely to help its close ally, Japan, but trying to reduce tensions between the two. Even though it may not seem like a concern for the US it is. By treaty the US is to come to the aid and defend Japan if it is attacked by any other nation. If it does escalate to war the US will be dragged in fighting with Japan, and the US is trying everything to not go to war with China.
China has found it self in more territorial disputes in the South China Sea over the Paracel islands and Spratly islands. This dispute isn't between just two nations but 4 other nations, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei, and Vietnam. But why argue over these tiny islands. First natural resources are abundant near the islands and half the worlds merchants ship pass through this area. The US has interjected taking a stance that China's claim does not United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which outlines how far a nation can claim over the seas, but coincidentally the US is not a signer of the treat at all. Tensions are high between the nations, especially high between the Philippines, a close ally of the US and China. The Filippine President, Aquino, has publicly criticized China's expansion and has compared them to Nazi Germany's expansion into Czechoslovakia, which you can imagined did not go over well with China.
Going father in this year here is hope that Sout East and East Asia can solve or at least reduce the high tensions in the area. Looking through these disputes makes you wonder if it does escalate and if war could break out.
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