TOKYO: East Asia is trapped in a vicious cycle of escalating tensions, with China’s rising power giving Japanese hawks legitimacy in their bid to bolster the military – exactly what Beijing says it fears.
The United States – rival to one power, ally to the other – finds itself walking a tightrope, with Vice-President Joe Biden in China this week urging restraint to “reduce the possibility of crisis or mistake”, according to a US official.
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