Prospect of 'war' among East Asian nations still hangs in delicate balance

HAVE Japan and China decided to "make love and not war" - or is it to be "war and not love"?

Either interpretation can be put to recent events which have brought, on the one hand the appearance of increased rapprochement between the two powers and, on the other hand, the threat of increased hostility between them.

Japan and China have been at serious loggerheads since 2012 when then prime minister Yoshihiko Noda in effect "nationalised" the contested Senkaku islets in the East China Sea, even though his predecessors had seen it fit to leave the vexatious issue alone.