Japan, Lawfare and the East China Sea   In an article published
by The Diplomat on May 29, Jerome Cohen makes an impassioned and
well-reasoned argument for states in East Asia to utilize
independent, third-party arbitration mechanisms wherever
possible to challenge China’s maximalist claims.  This was very
much the theme of a question I asked Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
at his opening keynote address at this year’s Shangri-La
Dialogue. Essentially, I asked the question as I wanted to
challenge his strong theme of international law in his speech by
highlighting Tokyo’s seeming reticence to take the
Senkaku/Diaoyu islands dispute to international arbitration. His
answer was effectively to support the statement made by former
foreign minister Koichiro Gemba in November 2012, that Japan is
subject to compulsory arbitration under UNCLOS, but it is up to
China to bring the case to court because Japan doesn’t consider
there to be a dispute.  But I realized as soon as I had sat down
(isn’t it always the way?) that I ha