Alex Zhu comments

Every time I see conflicts like this between China and Japan, I feel so sad. If there were no WW2 or Chinese Communist Party, these two countries should have been the best friends because of the geographical and cultural intimacy. Now WW2 has been over for almost a century, but we are still debating it and cannot move forward. Now the communism ideology in China has been dead for a decade, but the new generation of government is treating japan even tougher than their predecessors.

I really don't understand what prevents a friendly and collaborative relationship between these 2 countries. What's the gain for both sides?

Can't we develop some empathy here? For this disputed island, Japan should also understand China's claim - it had been under China's control before 1895 after China lost the JiaWu war to Japan, and of course China should understand where Japan is coming from - the island has been under Japan's control for a long time. There is no such a thing as "Inherent Territory" since the territory of a country has already been morphing in the history.

Yes it's a tricky issue, but it's insane for anybody to think about solving it with war. I am a Chinese, but I would rather lose 10000 islands than losing 10000 lives in a war. The concept of patriotism is evil.

When I lived in Shanghai, I often visited to a starbucks store close to my home. It's located in a japanese community where I saw a lot of japanese moms and kids. They all look beautiful and happy. Every time I see them, I keep hoping that our kids can be smarter than us - smart enough to find a way to remove all our historical burden...