Third Sino Japan argy bargy?

The ‘West’ bungled the second war between China and Japan.  Between 1937 and 1945, it was difficult to see which horse to back as, yet again, the West’s diplomacy and support was, and still is, motivated by money and self interest rather than moral duty. At one point Germany was China’s unlikely supporter while the UK and Soviets had pacts with the Japanese. There was much jumping from one ship to the other but the support in the end for China was meagre. It was only the minor complication of WW2 that realigned the ‘West’ against Japan after it attacked or took strategic locations in the region the most notable being Pearl Harbour.

Now there is some dispute over some islands that China once controlled. Thanks to the bungled interference or involvement by the US, who thought it their business to administer the islands after WW2 before handing them over to the Japanese in 1972, there is going to be more bungled diplomacy.