Last week, to mark the 80th anniversary of the Nanjing massacre, President Xi, while present, did not speak. But Yu Zhengsheng, the head of China’s top advisory body, delivered a major speech with implications for Sino-Japanese relations. Instead of simply recalling the past, Yu looked to the future and suggested a period of better relations between China and Japan. Four countries, Japan, India, Australia and the United States, have formed a “quad” that held its first meeting last month whose purpose evidently is to jointly deal with a new regional hegemon. There is likely to be greater cordiality in the relationship, but not necessarily greater trust.

Source: Manila Times December 18, 2017 16:07 UTC