I was thinking about this just the other day and looking back at the past 20 years, the small but persistent efforts by Japanese government to provoke neighbors by claiming isles as their own or pissing off WW2 victims by saying they were prostitutes and not sex slaves employed by the Japanese Army, has finally paid off.
All those years pissing off many Koreans, Chinese, Taiwanese appears to have been a very carefully concocted foreign policy with the goal of aggravating action from a large military power to bring tension in the region and thus receiving the attention of the US. With the backdrop of China's unprecedented growth and military expansion, this turned out remarkly well for Japan.
I often look at outcomes of today for Japan and their past diplomacy in East Asia, specifically designed to create tension and worry America enough to let the dog from the leash.
All those years pissing off many Koreans, Chinese, Taiwanese appears to have been a very carefully concocted foreign policy with the goal of aggravating action from a large military power to bring tension in the region and thus receiving the attention of the US. With the backdrop of China's unprecedented growth and military expansion, this turned out remarkly well for Japan.
I often look at outcomes of today for Japan and their past diplomacy in East Asia, specifically designed to create tension and worry America enough to let the dog from the leash.