long-festering dispute between China and Japan over the ownership of some uninhabited islands in the East China Sea had flared up to dangerous levels. Chinese and Japanese ships and planes were jostling and buzzing each other in the waters around the islands, known as the Senkaku to the Japanese and the Diaoyu to the Chinese. Nationalist sentiments were rising on both sides. In China, anti-Japanese riots across the country had led to the trashing of Japanese-owned shops and factories. Japan itself was about to elect a government led by Shinzo Abe, who was determined to change Japan’s
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