这些紧张局势的根源其实很清晰：朝鲜一方面对韩国延坪岛进行炮击，另一方面又明目张胆地披露自己的现代化核设施；以美国为首的舰队在南中国海和黄海横冲直撞；而中国则宣称南中国海与西藏一样，是关乎国家利益的重点区域。
The sources of those tensions are clear: North Korea’s shelling of South Korea’s Yeonpyeong Island and its flaunting of a modern, previously unknown, nuclear plant; the US-led armada now cruising through the South China and Yellow Sea; and China’s claim that the South China Sea is an area of vital national interest akin to Tibet.