US should change its approach to territorial disputes in East Asia and make its conduct match its statements of neutrality

Washington must exercise great care or the United States could become entangled in an assortment of volatile territorial disputes in East Asia.

Recently, the most prominent and potentially dangerous dispute has been between China and Japan over the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea. But disagreements continue to simmer between China and Vietnam and the Philippines, regarding parts of the South China Sea.