China & Japan

That was my first thought when I read about the gas exploration, but I believe it goes deeper than that. The contested islands, the contents of textbooks (which I understand have only been ordered by about 1% of the teachers of the relevant classes, as they've been released by a publisher known to be very right-wing), the "comfort women", and Nanjing, of course, have all been issues over the past several decades. What's new in the equation is Japan's bid for a permanent seat on the Security Council, and China's new anti-secession law and desire to have the weapons embargo lifted.
It's an extremely complicated situation, particularly when you consider that both countries are involved in the talks about North Korea's nuclear capacity.

Perhaps this is too much of a simplification but I believe that China's foreign policy can be summed up as maintenance of sovereignty and territorial integrity.

1) Historical
It goes back to the colonial era where Western powers and later Japan carved up parts of China. The British even created this new concept of Suzerainty as opposed to Sovereignty in describing Tibet and they treated Tibet as not exactly part of China but merely under its influence. A lot more one could say but let us move on.

2) Taiwan
It should be noted that it was only in the 1990s when the KMT lost power and the independent movement came into power that Taiwan issue truly boiled over.

3) Japan
There is strong suspicion that that Japan is attempting to split China up especially vis-a-vis Taiwan. It should be noted that Japanese occupation of Taiwan in the past was very different compared to the rest of Asia and many native Taiwanese still fondly recall the Japanese.

4) India
China recently claimed that it will support India's bid to permanent seat on UN, which could be seen as directed against Japan. But also it should be noted that in that visit China and India had an agreement relating to the China-India border, coincident? But the prior dispute was not just because of territory in the Himalayan region but also Tibet, recall that Dalai Lama fled and is HQ in India.

5) Korean War
China entered the war when the US forces pushed the N.Korean all the way up close to the China border and there were fears that the troops would not stop at the border but move into China. For there was a message from Mao who believed that if all of Korea was occupied they believe US would declare war on China.

6) Other territorial issues
These relate to the contested islands as mentioned above and Spratly isles. Remember the US spy plane that went down in China a few years back. Recall the efforts in the past to ensure the return of HK and Macau. Finally, although the actions need not be explained based on sovereignty, the protest as a result of the accidental US bombing of the China Embassy can also be used as evidence.

Conclusion:
Therefore, I believe that China's foreign policy is quite 'simple' to understand since most of their foreign actions can be understood through the protection of their sovereignty. The textbook and the visiting of the war shrine is something that not just China protest but also S.Korea. And such actions can be understood for if you had the German Chancellor visiting a Nazi memorial and paying respect to Nazis or introduce textbook that deny the holocaust, I think it too would result in quite a bit of troubles across Europe.

Anybody think this was orchestrated? http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapc....ap/index.html

Well, Koizumi has offered an apology for Japanese actions during WWII, and there's supposed to be a meeting between him and Hu. http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapc...ing/index.html