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Although most China and Japan experts in the West believe the two nations will once again return to the negotiating table in order to resolve their dispute over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, the conditions for a perfect storm of military confrontation still exist. In recent months the administration of President Barack Obama has sent first Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and then Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, to Tokyo and then to Beijing, to try to defuse tensions in the East China Sea, as Washington has become increasingly concerned that its defense treaty ties to Japan would drag it in to conflict with the People's Liberation Army Navy in order to defend Japan's territorial claims. And more recently, most Chinese and Japanese leaders have avoided extremely inflammatory speeches, instead criticizing each other loudly, but not calling for direct confrontation.
