Observers in both East Asia and the United States have become increasingly worried about the growing tensions between China and Japan. However, the tendency to place all of the blame on Beijing may be mis-guided.

When Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Tokyo’s controversial Yasukuni Shrine last month, Chinese leaders, predictably, condemned his decision to honor those behind “the war of aggression against China.” But Abe was also sending a message to Japan’s main ally and defender, the US.

Shinzo Abe continues to disown the country's dark past by visiting the Yasukuni Shrine and doctoring textbooks, writes James Hsiung.

The tense atmosphere in the Asia-Pacific has only intensified with China’s announcement of new fishing rules and an ADIZ in disputed waters. However, as Stephen Harner points out, China’s actions were necessary given regional security threats and unproductive military-to-military dialogue with the US.

The escalation of tensions between China and Japan in 2013 has put a strain on the bilateral relationship and puts the Asia-Pacific region at risk for conflict. As Jin Ying points out, there are three steps the US should take to ensure stability and peaceful development.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's recent visit to the Yasukuni Shrine produced a rare expression of displeasure from the US government, but the majority of US people have expressed little interest in this event, writes John Eddington.

Mr. Abe’s homage to Japan’s war dead, in the court of world public opinion, smacks of denial of his nation’s wartime aggression — and has been widely condemned. This impression only strengthens China’s hand in current disputes with Japan — and therefore also in its strategic competition with the United States, writes Sung-Yoon Lee.

On 26 December 2013, Shinzo Abe made a high-profile visit to the Yasukuni Shrine and said the visit fulfilled his long-cherished wish. The war shrine visit puts China-Japan relations in deep freeze and disturbs the geometry of power in the western Pacific, writes Liu Junhong.

Shifting the focus of domestic contradictions was also smugly calculated into Abe's decision. His shrine visit again brazenly affronted Chinese people and the people of other victimized countries and aggravated relations with Japan's neighbors, writes Li Wei.