Stand Up to China....Or Else

China is now the world's 2nd largest economy.  No doubt they are using their newly found status to try and make it closer to the top in this game called KING OF THE HILL that all the world's nations play in some way.

China goes out and claims these tiny islands (Japan also claims them) and then wait to see if they can defend the airspace around them...and if no body challenges their claim, then the islands and airspace are theirs!

So the only way you can challenge this new Chinese airspace is to ignore their claim, fly through it and basically tell China to "shove off!"

Of course you can also see how this game of 'shove off' can end up building tensions to such a level that one day a trigger-happy Chinese fighter pilot shoots down a Japanese passenger jet and then all hell could break loose.

Davos (Switzerland) (AFP) - Japan on Wednesday told the world it must stand up to an increasingly assertive China or risk a regional conflict with catastrophic economic consequences.

In a landmark speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe issued what amounted to an appeal for international support in a potentially explosive dispute with its superpower neighbour over islands in the East China Sea.

"We must restrain military expansion in Asia ... which otherwise could go unchecked," Abe told the annual meeting of global business and political leaders, which Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is due to attend on Friday.

"If peace and stability were shaken in Asia, the knock-on effect for the entire world would be enormous," Abe added.

"The dividend of growth in Asia must not be wasted on military expansion."

Although Abe did not explicitly mention China, his speech had been flagged up in advance by Japanese officials as an alarm call to an influential audience over what Tokyo sees as bullying by Beijing.

The dispute over the uninhabited but potentially mineral-rich islands is being played out against a backdrop of Japanese fears that China is seeking to exert control over lifeline shipping lanes around its vast coastline and that the United States' commitment to guarantee Japan's security is waning.

Here;  http://news.yahoo.com/japan-appeals-world-restrain-39-military-expansion-39-173227774.html

Yes, it's true...for the past 70 years the U.S. has had a very well known commitment to guarantee Japan's security...and now Japan is concerned that our promises to go to war with China if they ever get into it with Japan MAY BE WANING.

Ya' think???

We currently owe China $1.3 trillion for the Treasury Bonds they have bought from us.  How are going to go to war with them without harming our Treasury Bond market...which we rely on to keep our $17 trillion debt floating??

Also, if China invaded Taiwan and/or Japan tomorrow, what do you think would be the likelihood that USA would send hundreds of thousands of soldiers to mix it up with China??  We are sick of war in Afghanistan and Iraq.  We want nothing to do with Syria....so why would we get into a nasty war with China? 

We simply don't have the stomach for it or the money.

So Japan, if you want to start planning for your own defense against outside aggressors....you probably should get to planning.