In another important story the US media doesn’t seem to want to report about, China has taken an action that has increased the possibility of an armed confrontation between China and Japan (see first link). China sent eight patrol ships into the territorial waters of the Japanese Senkaku Islands, an aggressive and bellicose action by China. Japan has reacted with predictable anger to this action, and Japan’s Prime Minister Abe promised “decisive action against any attempt to enter our territorial waters and to land.” He added any Chinese effort to land troops at the Senkaku Islands would result in an effort by Japan to “expel by force” any such Chinese landing party.
The USA, as Japan’s ally, would be obligated to support Japan in any such armed confrontation. Such a localized maritime war could raise the possibility of China being able to practice using its new anti-carrier ballistic- and cruise-missiles designed to sink US carriers. This may possibly be the real reason for the very provocative actions by China. In claiming the entire South China Sea, China is also taking another bellicose action which could lead to China having to engage a US aircraft carrier group if regional hostilities break out there. In both locations, it is China which seems to be pushing steadily toward provoking a regional war. China has built many modern weapons systems, but they are entirely untested. To be perfectly blunt, China needs to know if its weapons systems will work as expected in actual combat conditions. Therefore, China has a military need for a regional, limited war to test its new weaponry. If it keeps pushing other nations with increasingly warlike actions, China is likely to get the regional war it apparently wants.
The second link reports that Japan and the USA will conduct joint naval exercises in the California coastal region (the first time US and Japanese forces have conducted a military exercise in US waters). The naval exercises “will simulate landings on an island occupied by enemy troops,” and the Japanese forces participating in the drill will be those “responsible for defending remote islands.” This sounds like the USA and Japan are already preparing for possible joint naval action against China in the “remote” Senkaku Islands.
China’s warlike actions in the Pacific Rim are pushing the nations on China’s maritime periphery into an alliance with each other and with the USA. This is exactly what I predicted years ago (based on Ezekiel 38:13) in my articles: What Ezekiel 38-39 Reveal about a Future World War III and Japan’s Role in Bible Prophecy.
