Henry John Temple, the third Viscount Palmerston, once described Hong Kong as "a barren rock with hardly a house upon it" after the Opium War more than 170 years ago. Now, another group of barren rocks off Taiwan, the Diaoyu Islands, are causing trouble to China and Japan. Can we draw parallels from these two incidents?
In the past, most people held the view that China had been humiliated during the Opium Wars and its subsequent wars with Western powers. In a curious way, China and Britain were brought closer together by that war, and now the Diaoyu Islands provide a chance for China and Japan to turn a crisis into a golden opportunity to promote peace and economic prosperity.
If China and Japan go to war, both will lose. If China is defeated in a conventional war and decides to use nuclear warheads, then China, Japan and the entire world are the losers. But can we create a "win-win-win" scenario?
First, let's abandon our outdated mentality of "blood and iron" to resolve confrontation. We need co-operation instead of confrontation. The formation of the European Common Market, the collapse of the Berlin Wall and the introduction of the euro are examples of the forces of integration. Europeans are using these forces to resolve their problems left over from wars. They show wisdom and patience to move forward painstakingly towards a full integration of the "United States of Europe".
In fact, China is also moving in that direction internally. The economic integration with Taiwan through the Economic Co-operation Framework Agreement is a move in the right direction.
Could China and Japan also work in that direction? It is unfortunate that the Diaoyus have become a bone of contention and a stumbling block. Wars breed only wars. But how can we break this vicious cycle?