this development is a direct result of japanese provocations over the pass few years. there was once a time, after normalization of relations that the PRC agreed with japan to save the issue for the future and unspoken rules were developed, in which neither would push the issue and it should be negotiated over time and indeed it was so, even up to the point of agreeing on resource sharing in areas, meanwhile japan would continue to exercise de facto control over the islands, any mainland/hong kong activist or fishermen caught in the area would be deported, chinese naval units, when heading out to the pacific would take a longer route as to avoid comming too close. however japan fundamentally broke both the actual agreement and unspoke rules when two thing happened. one is when they attempted to charge Chinese fishermen under japanese laws rather than deport him, this is a deviation from the status quo where these men would be deported but not tried. by this move it would mean japan is no longer viewing the agreement with china as valid and if the PRC did not take action it would effectivly accept japanese sovereignty over the island and so they put a lot of political and economic(rare earths) pressure on japan and eventually japan relented. at this point things might have even gotten back to normal after the national sentiment calmed down. but then japan went and nationalized the islands, effectively pissed on the original agreement and thrown the unspoken agreements out the window. as such china no longer put economics first as it had agreed to and in addition no long cared about japanese thoughts and feelings on the subject and since then have effectively driven the japanese out and took de facto control of the islands. chinese fishermen now have more or less free reign around the islands and the chinese coast guard now routinely patrol the area. Naval unit that once might have taken the long way around to avoid comming too close now no longer cared what the japanese thought and instead went right through waters japan claimed as their own. and this latest news indicated that the resources sharing agreement may now also be ignored. things are not going well for japan and the hope-for strong US support has not shown up nor has the rather weak US talk held the PRC back.
