By James R. Holmes
It strikes me there’s a more highfalutin’ metaphor than Muhammad Ali’s rope-a-dope ploy for Beijing’s strategy in the contested Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands—namely Roman history.
China can dispatch unarmed or lightly armed ships from its fisheries, surveillance, or law-enforcement services to disputed waters. Japanese ships must follow lest Tokyo appear to forfeit administrative control of the archipelago. Chinese mariners can run their Japanese counterparts ragged. And indeed, yesterday the Japan Coast Guard reported that four ships from China’s non-military maritime agencies entered the territorial sea encircling Uotsurijima, the largest of the islets. This was the latest in a string of such incursions. Beijing appears intent on establishing a near-constant presence around the islands, tiring out JCG ships and crews sent to police sovereign waters.
Read the full story at The Diplomat