As a "rising" China presses on its maritime frontiers in the East and South China Seas, tensions with Japan are increasing rapidly because of the maritime basis of Japanese security. Yet Japan thinks it can reduce defense spending, continue to rely on the United States for its strategic security, and poke China in the eye while expecting America to keep China on a leash. A jumble of contradictions.
U.S.-Japan base realignment talks are going badly, with America insisting that the agreement reached last November is final, while Japan is saying it is provisional. Yet Japan has no regional friends. To the contrary, it has territorial disputes with all of its neighbors. That reduces Japan's leverage in its only alliance.
Worse, Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso misses few opportunities to provoke China and South Korea. He may now be intending to allow Taiwanese former President Lee Teng-hui visit Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo, where Lee's elder brother is enshrined.