Category Archives: Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands  “The Dangerous Math
of Chinese Island Disputes”  M. Taylor Fravel with a reasonably
controversial claim that China may actually be willing to use
force to consolidate its claim to the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands:
Since 1949, China has been involved in 23 territorial disputes
with its neighbors on land and at sea. Seventeen of them have
been settled, usually through compromise agreements.
Nevertheless, China has used force, often more than once, in six
of these disputes. And it’s these cases that most closely
parallel the Senkaku impasse.  To start, China has usually only
used force in territorial disputes with its most militarily
capable neighbors. These include wars or major clashes with
India, Russia and Vietnam (several times), as well as crises
involving Taiwan. These states have had the greatest ability to
check China’s territorial ambitions. In disputes with weaker
states, such as Mongolia or Nepal, Beijing has eschewed force
because it could negotiate from a posit