The summer has seen a series of marine disputes involving China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines. This week there were more anti-Japanese riots in cities across China because of a dispute over a group of uninhabited islands known to the Japanese as the Senkakus and to the Chinese as the Diaoyu Islands. One Chinese newspaper has helpfully suggested skipping the pointless diplomacy and moving straight to the main course by serving up Japan with an atom bomb.  The government in Beijing is trying to play down the dispute, aware of the economic interests in keeping the peace. China is re-emerging after what it sees as 150 years of humiliation, surrounded by anxious neighbours, many of them allied to America. In that context, disputes about _ could become very significant. Whatever the legality of Japan's claim to the islands, its roots lie in empire-building. China's leaders now face sharp criticism if they do not fight their country's corner. A recent poll suggested that over half of China's citizens thought the next few years would see a "military dispute" with Japan.  The islands matter, therefore, less because of fishing, oil or gas than as counters in the high-stakes game for Asia's future. Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines fear that if they give in, China will sense weakness and prepare the next demand. China fears that if it fails to press its case, America and others will conclude that they are free to scheme against it.  Asia's inability to deal with the islands raises doubts about how it would cope with a genuine crisis, on the Korean peninsula, say, or across the Strait of Taiwan. And the tendency for the slightest quarrel to turn into a full-blown conflict presents problems for America, which both aims to reassure China that it welcomes its rise, and also uses the threat of military force to guarantee that the Pacific is worthy of the name. According to a Chinese newspaper, the best way to deal with the dispute is  _  .
holding diplomatic talks with the Japanese moving the islands to the mainland of China declaring war on Japan without a moment's delay turning to other countries such as the US for help