It started out as a spat over a fishing boat but has rapidly escalated into a bilateral crisis, pitting the two great titans of Asia against one another in their worst diplomatic row in years.
Protesters hold signs outside Beijing's Japanese Embassy reading "Japan Get out of Diaoyu Islands" during an anti-Japan protest over disputed islands Sept.18, 2010.
(Jason Lee/Reuters) Today, Japan's government warned that both Japan and China must beware of fomenting nationalism over the ongoing dispute.
"We should be careful not to stir up narrow-minded, extreme nationalism," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku told a news conference. "We should try to resolve the problem without escalating the situation, and we'll call for measures through all possible channels."
At the moment, that might be tough. China said today that it would be "inappropriate" for the countries' premiers to meet this week at the United Nations.
It has cut off all high-level government contact with Japan and suspended talks on aviation and energy exploration. Some 1,000 young Japanese who had been invited to travel to the Shanghai Expo, at the suggestion of Premier Wen Jiabao, have been told they are no longer welcome.
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