Given recent territorial moves by China, as well as heightened aggressive rhetoric, Curtis Chin analyzes the parallels between China currently and Japan as it existed in the past. Additionally, Chin asserts that the world’s powers should work to lower tensions so that peace and prosperity can exist in the Asia-Pacific region.

China and the US are big countries in the Asia-Pacific. China appreciates a constructive US presence in the region. But it will also be unequivocally opposed to the US endangering Chinese national interests while developing ties with other Asia-Pacific nations, writes Fu Mengzi.

Following the first visit to Japan by a U.S. president in nearly two decades, Stephen Harner examines President Barack Obama’s recent tour of four East Asian nations in order to truly understand how U.S.-Japan relations are advancing and what this means for the future of Sino-U.S. relations given current tensions between China and Japan.

Sino-Japanese relations have been strained due to confrontations regarding the Diaoyu Islands and state visits to the Yasukuni Shrine by Japanese leaders. In order to mitigate these tensions, it is imperative that the Chinese government adjusts its official policies in order to shift the international perception of Japan in their favor.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with the political support of right wing conservative forces, is seeking to amend Article 9 of the Constitution, which stipulates that Japan is no longer able to maintain a standing army, navy and air force, and forfeits all rights to belligerency.

China trusts the United States to act rationally in Asia, but not so with Japan; its aggressive behavior is the real danger to China, writes Franz-Stefan Gady.

Zhang Junshe, a senior colonel for the People’s Liberation Army Navy, lays out four features of Japan’s nationalist turn and argues that anti-Chinese sentiment will quickly shift to anti-American rhetoric if not kept in check.

The philosopher George Santayana warned that "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Both Japan and China need to think of the promise of an Asian century and the stakes of continued antagonism, and begin to shape a future that serves their mutual long-term interests.

The US and Japan held the first talks on their Cyber Defense Policy Working Group early this month. The Japan Self-Defense Forces are scheduled to set up a cyber-defense unit in March, and Washington will provide support in training Japan's senior military officials and improving Japan's cyber warfare capabilities. All these maneuvers have revealed that the two countries are deepening their alliance.