Are you asking if North Korea would start a war on behalf of China? Why would North Korea want to start a war where they gain nothing and they cannot hope to win?

No, I am suggesting the possibility of a war already being there and North Korea saying, “Hey China friend, we will back you in this war (so that we can attack America and Japan).”

L. Spiro

I would imagine they would side with China, yes. But I still don't see much in it for them. What does NK gain from attacking America or Japan? If they were to use the opportunity for anything, I would think they would use it to invade South Korea.

I don't think a war's super likely, neither side has a ton to gain compared to the obvious cost of a military conflict. China's still not strong enough where it counts to really challenge the US and Japan militarily. The only thing to watch for is nationalistic public pressure.

I think China has a better claim than you think, L. Spiro, especially considering the turmoil in China in the late 19th and early 20th century and Imperial Japan's lack of scruples.

Are you asking if North Korea would start a war on behalf of China? Why would North Korea want to start a war where they gain nothing and they cannot hope to win?

No, I am suggesting the possibility of a war already being there and North Korea saying, “Hey China friend, we will back you in this war (so that we can attack America and Japan).”

>While Most of your responses focus on a plausible military conflict and whom it may involve, do not over look the US's weaken economic state

I didn’t, which forms the basis of my hypotheses in case of war.
Firstly America can’t afford it, but there is no question as to their obligation to support Japan in this matter should it result in war.
They lose financially if they fight China. They lose relationships with Japan if they don’t back them militarily (as well as losing strategic military locations).

Solution: Enter the war, feign a loss.
America definitely will enter a war if there is one. But the way they aren’t fortifying their defenses right now while they know fully well that China is fortifying their attack in preparation of war [Beijing War Prep] likely doesn’t indicate that they see peace coming, but that they have calculated that the only way to win is to keep relations with Japan and enter the war but not to spend any money on it what-so-ever (beyond the bare minimum), put up the minimum resistance necessary to tell Japan they tried, and ultimately lose on purpose.

That is my main answer.

The China-NK relationship has become more and more strained as late; after the last weapons test it was clear that China are starting to get a little annoyed at them...

I wanted to start another topic or at least about that here too.
The other war-like issue for Japan is North Korea itself period.

They have ignored all warnings from all nations regarding nuclear tests and have stated clearly their desire to continue ignoring them and to eventually attack America. And now they are run by a hothead naïve little kid who is desperate to cast a bigger shadow than his father.

1. Do you think North Korea will start a war?
2. North Korea can’t hit many major cities in America and certainly not accurately. Will they try to start the war by attacking America’s ally?
   1. Which city would they hit? Tokyo? Seoul?
3. Once North Korea is wiped off the map, how well do you think the North, being almost entirely military and brainwashed citizens, will integrate with the South back into “Korea”?

L. Spiro

I actually wrote a paper on the tensions in South/East Asia. War is not as unlikely as people think it is. A sustained conflict could happen. China has been building up military forces for years. In particular, they have been looking for technology that could challenge American superiority, such as catamarans that can swarm American aircraft carriers. Chinese planners must see some sort of need for this technology in the future, probably for attacking Japan, or India. Moreover, since the Chinese are building up, neighboring countries like Japan, India, and South Korea perceive a threat from China and start building up their own stockpiles. The result is an arms race similar to what we saw before World War 1. With tensions this high in a region and so much military hardware circulating throughout the area, it only takes one mistake to trigger open conflict. China knows that attacking now, without a good excuse, would be stupid. When the Chinese have a good excuse, they can attack. Now we do believe that our financial relations will be the reason that the Chinese will not attack an allied country like Japan, but circumstances can change, and in the past, wars have started even if their are financial reasons not to. As I said earlier, it doesn't take much more than one mistake...

This island thing is just a political play for the nationalistic part of the population in Japan and China, the govs in both nations are thinking more long term and would not go to war and waste huge amount of economical resources for something like a few small islands. All conflicts about underground gas and oil will be taken care by international court as that is cheaper and safer. Also never forget that USA and China both have the nuclear bomb which makes big operations near impossible.

Beside that China is having several border issues with Asian nations such as Vietnam, India, Philippine etc. China do not need a war right now due to some small islands. Officials play an act for the gallery in the media and say something different when the cameras are shut down.

Now at days all wars are about economic and China and USA, in fact the whole world and China's economy is linked strongly together and therefore war as we knew it from the history books are long gone and not worth it anymore.

To the OP, enjoy the great city you live in and forget about any war or saber rattling from the officials. They are all tied on their hands due the the international economic system in these modern days(and the nuclear bomb that prevent huge wars of course...).

Claims back to 15th century / US administration after WW2

Israel has taught us that it does not matter who owns what. If you and your ancestors have been living in the "wrong place" for the last thousand years, and some fucker comes along and says "Bad luck for you, these lands are now owned by someone else", you can get all angry and you can go Hamas, but they're still going to take away everything you rightfully owned for centuries, everything you worked for. And the international community will watch and be silent. A piece of paper will be written with some twisted words that say "new people own this land now", and so everything is legal. 20 years later, nobody will remember. All tha will be remembered is that you are the bad terrorist guy.

It's not like it was any different for the pre-19th-century inhabitants of the USA who were driven off their lands and murdered in millions. Nobody gives a crap about them, they're gone. And it's all legal.

That's just how things go. You object to someone taking way your lands, you throw a rock at them, and they mow your people down in dozens with machine guns, and all that happens is that Amnesty International says "well folks, that wasn't very nice of you". Life goes on, but without you.

>Will there be war?

No, but quite possibly China will just take over those isles one day. Our People Needs Room -- Adolf Schicklgruber, 1939. The same is dramatically true for China, too. They have everything (in particular people), except room. It will become unavoidable that they acquire new lands.

Firstly America can’t afford [...]they lose financially if they fight China.

That's almost correct, but you got it on the wrong angle. It's not about the USA losing some money in an economically unattractive war. Fact is that China can anihilate the USA from one day to another if they throw their US bonds on the market and sell their dollar certificates. Will they lose a few billions? Yes, but who cares, China has enough money. They need not fire one nuclear missle to completely destroy the USA in one strike.

And that is why the USA will just keep it shut in case China decides to take over those islands. Maybe the foreign minister will make a statement about how shocked he is, then China will make a few strong words and play their muscles, and everyone will back off.

Let's not mention that the "not quite up to par" Chinese military is frightening at best. The sheer number of people and births they have would make China an easy winner in a non-nuclear-non-financial shootout as well. Yes, Wikipedia suggests something different, but if you look at those numbers for a seconds, you can only agree how ridiculous they are (the USA have 14 times as many people reaching military age per year, got to be kidding?).

North Korea

Now there's that, you can never predict what a total nutter will do. Kim might still just attack Japan (or even the USA) under this pretext -- although I doubt it. Not even Kim is that insane, and he must be able to figure that the expected losses are much greater than any possible gains for him.

Look, if China sells those bonds, then China's going right down with the US and the rest of the world economy. There will be turmoil in the world market. It's not as if this is a one way thing. Who will the Chinese sell those cheap manufactured goods to? The people who buy their stuff are being screwed over. The Chinese themselves are not buying their own stuff. And then there's no reason not to attack one another at that point. So no, the Chinese selling the bonds is not a threat, unless they feel suicidal. The Chinese cannot afford the kind of loss that you are talking about, as the loss is not just in debt. Moreover, the Chinese military you are talking about has enough numbers, and I agree that they are more than a match for the Japanese. However, when we add in the combined power of America and allies, then we the balance changes. And in the event that the Chinese attack Japan, we have other nations that don't like China that could potential enter the war (such as Russia and India). The US will not abandon the Japanese if they decide to make a stand for these reasons. And for these reasons, I really don't see the Chinese attacking Japan just for a set of islands. I believe a conflict is more likely in this decade, probably Sino-Indian, possibly against South Korea, or even Japan.

I actually wrote a paper on the tensions in South/East Asia. War is not as unlikely as people think it is.

And that is why the USA will just keep it shut in case China decides to take over those islands.

That's almost correct, but you got it on the wrong angle. It's not about the USA losing some money in an economically unattractive war. Fact is that China can anihilate the USA from one day to another if they throw their US bonds on the market and sell their dollar certificates. Will they lose a few billions? Yes, but who cares, China has enough money. They need not fire one nuclear missle to completely destroy the USA in one strike.

You may also wish to consider that China possessing ownership of a large amount of the US debt is not conducive to China opening up an open war. There is enough historical evidence to show that financial penalties applied to losing countries as well sanctions as well other financial measures would provide the US a way to throw their entire debt into such a thing as wartime reparations resulting in an insta-fix to the US economy.

To the OP, enjoy the great city you live in and forget about any war or saber rattling from the officials. They are all tied on their hands due the the international economic system in these modern days(and the nuclear bomb that prevent huge wars of course...).