Contortions in East China Sea's boiling pot

Following their series on animated short-movies, the Taiwanese company Next Media Animation has released another movie regarding recent territorial disputes in the East China Sea. Full of humourous references, such as the image of a Japanese soldier in a yoroi and Chinese citizen fighting in a boiling pot stirred by a Chinese panda with a PLA hat, it raises several interesting questions.

(Hat tip to AOL Defense's Colin Clark)

The reference to competing claims against Japan over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands is evident as the sailor onboard the ship chooses from the three available flags to hoist ashore: PRC, Taiwan (ROC) and Hong Kong. It alludes to multiplicity of actors currently stirring the waters for a myriad of purposes, not always related or in tandem with official government policy.

More important perhaps is the decision by the CCP to allow for some limited demonstrations to take place in several cities against Japanese actions, whilst watering down protests against Hu Jintao's perceived soft hand on the issue. Before anti-Japanese protests become anti-Hu protests, as a recent Mainichi Shimbun editorial pointed out, it may indeed be wise to put the lid in some of the most radical protesters.

Finally, I personally found the reference to these territorial disputes as a game of Twister delightful. Does it really capture the political contortions of very complex calculations based on legal, energy, economic, geopolitic and military claims? Maybe it doesn't, but it represents an entertaining alternative model to think about this issue.

This article has been written by:

Tiago Alexandre Fernandes Mauricio