The Next Sino-Japense War?

There seems to be some popular sentiment for just that, but with the role of the attacker reversed:

China and Japan are heading towards military conflict, according to a majority of Chinese surveyed on ties between the Asian powers in a Sino-Japanese poll.

The Genron/China Daily survey found that 53 per cent of Chinese respondents – and 29 per cent of the Japanese polled – expect their nations to go to war. The poll was released ahead of the second anniversary of Japan’s move to nationalise some of the contested Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.

Of course, popular sentiment doesn’t carry the same weight in a single-party state that it does in a popular democracy. On the other hand, Beijing has been whipping up nationalist sentiment to distract from the heavy-handedness of single-party rule — and these things do have a way of sliding out of control. And the whole point of having a single-party state is staying in power no matter what.

Beijing’s ruling class may someday decide that war, war is better than vote, vote.