China's Air Defense Zone

I was discussing this topic with one of my peers who is visiting from China.  Not surprisingly he has been told that these islands have been on China's maps for centuries and that only in the 1900's did Imperial Japan claim them.  I can't wait to speak with one of my Japanese peers to see what their view is...

CNN China's Air Defense Zone
CNN Who Claims What?
CNN Questions and Answers

I am just hoping that they keep things calm through year end...  I have meetings in South Korea and China starting in about 12 days.

So what do you think of this situation?
Do you think anyone would care about these rock islands if oil was not involved?
What do you think America should do?

Another interesting comment my peer made.  He said that he was taught that China sided with North Korea during the Korean war because if the USA controlled Korea, they would try to take over China next...  There are always multiple views of every situation...

A Russian peer of mine told me a long time ago that it was the Soviet Union that saved the day by ending WW II.  Which of course is partially true since multiple fronts had to been incredibly hard to defend...