Unusual Signs

From the BBC:

Japan has decided not to a send a military aircraft to China to deliver relief supplies for victims of the Sichuan earthquake.

It will instead use a chartered plane to send the materials to the disaster zone, top government spokesman Nobutaka Machimura said.

The move came after some Chinese officials were concerned about allowing a military plane in, Mr Machimura said.

There is lingering anger in China over Japan's actions in World War II.

Ties between the two sides have improved in recent months, but only three years ago there were violent anti-Japanese protests across several Chinese cities.

Chinese officials were concerned about a backlash among people who remember Japan's war-time militarism, media reports said.

Now, I would not make too much of this, but the parallels, or perhaps lack thereof, with another incident are curious. Knowing the problems of historical memory in Asia remains quite prescient, especially given their grounding in the general population rather than the ruling elite. It has been remarked that Chinese nationalism is a threat to this elite, yet simultaneously that development will empower the masses politically, not just economically. Will nationalism dissipate with the empowerment of the people, or is the continued political stratification of China in the interest of regional stability? One wonders how a "China Lobby" of the 21st century might look.