[Skybird]

All sides - Taiwan, China, Japan - are driven by nationalist forces over this. All sides have risen maximum demands that practically exclude any compromise. No side can now move back even just one small step without losing face, and without pissing its nationalists as well as major parts of its "normal" population.

I currently do not see this standoff ending quickly or easily. Since also fishing grounds and resources play a role, and a chance for a tri-national cooperation in exploiting these is practically ruled out, and since further the US cannot play the honest broker since it is closely tied with Japan and Taiwan, we probably must get used to the idea that the sabre rattling in this part of the world will be daily routine from now on. And could turn into a hot incident as well.