Viewpoints: How serious are China-Japan tensions?

A row over islands in the East China Sea has left ties between Japan and China severely strained. In the latest development, Japan says a Chinese frigate locked weapon-targeting radar on one of its navy ships in waters near the islands, called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. Five experts assess how serious the situation is.

Overview: Christopher Hughes

The situation is certainly the most serious for Sino-Japanese relations in the post-war period in terms of the risk of militarised conflict. The two sides have had periodic deteriorations in bilateral ties before and usually found a way to settle if not resolve differences. Moreover, in the past there was never really any risk of armed conflict.

The situation is thus serious, with a risk of the militarisation and escalation of tensions. There are mechanisms to defuse tensions somewhat but there is also perhaps a lack of leadership on both sides necessary to really focus on dealing with the problems.