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Letters | Sabre-rattling over Taiwan must give way to common ground between major powers
- The China-Russia naval drill in the Sea of Japan was a show of force by two former empires that suffered humiliating defeats in the past
- Japan’s Shinzo Abe’s remarks about Taiwan highlight the inflamed passions over sovereignty issues that should not be left to boil over
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People with the same background and interests would naturally join together, especially if they have suffered similar pain. Thus it’s no surprise China and Russia, which recently conducted a joint naval drill in the Sea of Japan, or East Sea, would team up against any security threat from Western democracies and Japan.
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China and Russia have had a lot in common over the past century. During the First Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War, the Qing dynasty’s Beiyang Fleet and the Romanov dynasty’s Baltic Fleet were effectively annihilated by the Imperial Japanese Navy. These defeats humiliated the two former great empires.
The Axis powers’ invasion of China and Russia in the second world war was an unforgettable experience of austerity for both the Chinese and the Russians.
Soon after the end of the war, the Soviet Union and America started a Cold War as a result of their ideological, geopolitical and economic disparities. And such a cold war now seems to have recurred, this time between China and the US.
Regarding the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands and the Kuril Islands, Japan has stood firm in claiming sovereignty over the two disputed territories, causing an impediment to normal relations with China and Russia, respectively. The recent Chinese and Russian joint naval drill in the Sea of Japan was possibly a warning to Japan not to interfere in the Taiwan Strait issue.
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Perhaps fretting about the safety of Japan, former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe recently said America would stand with Taiwan if China attacked the democratically ruled island. Abe’s agitation is not implausible, for the collapse of Taiwan would be a grave danger to Japan.
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