Admittedly, a big proposal by one side to the other along the lines we propose could risk making the situation worse—if done in a grandstanding way and with little willingness to show flexibility or patience.  But undertaken quietly, or through secret diplomacy—or just debated for a while among academics and former officials from the various countries involved—this kind of thinking could prepare the groundwork for the quelling over time of one of the few main irritants in the Japan-China relationship that could plausibly lead to war.  That seems a worthy enterprise.

Michael O’Hanlon is a senior fellow and director of research in the foreign policy program at the Brookings Institution.