By Zachary Keck
U.S. policy to China today closely resembles the policy it pursed toward Japan… before Pearl Harbor
It’s no secret that Asia is obsessed with history. From the centuries-old maps that undergird China’s “nine-dash line” claim to Japan’s WWII-era aggression to the now daily comparisons between pre-WWI and pre-WWII Europe and Asia today, the most important geopolitical discussions of this century increasingly sound like they come from a different century altogether. This affliction isn’t limited to any one or even a few countries; rather, it seems to run amok throughout the region.
One notable exception to this is United States, which seems generally exasperated with all this talk of history, as much so with strong allies like Japan as with potential adversaries like China. This should come as no surprise. Just as China places a nearly unequaled importance on history as a guide to contemporary and future times, the U.S. is about as ahistorical a nation as exists anywhere in the world today.
Read the full story at The Diplomat