But the furor has gathered its own momentum. Already Seoul has cancelled naval maneuvers with Japan. Yet a year from now the two nations must cooperate to host the soccer World Cup, welcoming thousands of visitors who neither know nor care about this stupid spat. So the urgent need now is to defuse this row, not stoke it up. To a foreigner's eye, the Korean mindset has an inbuilt bias.
Japan can do no right and China can do no wrong.
There are several reasons for this. One is the sheer novelty, still, of being back in touch with China after half a century of Cold War barriers. But it goes deeper. But for Latvia it makes sense. Berlin, not Moscow, is their future.