The general consensus, not just here in China but around the world, is that the Japanese leadership is pursuing a path which amounts to something of a whitewash of the country's wartime past. From seemingly endorsing the denial of comfort women to an attempt to give international recognition to kamikaze pilots, the administration of Shinzo Abe is winning few friends and allies at the moment.

China, South Korea and America are deeply worried that the Japanese may be trying to revise and revive nationalist sentiments which proved to be so deadly and destructive during the years in the run-up and during the Second World War.

This has been capped by Abe's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine which is akin to paying homage to mass murderers and rapists.

But what are the reasons for Japan's revival of nationalist sentiments?

And could the territorial dispute with China lead to something more troublesome in an already volatile region?

- Zhang Baohui, Professor of political Science, Lingnan University, Hong Kong

- Mel Gurtov, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, Portland State University; Editor-in-Chief, Asian Perspective

- Jia Xiudong, Senior Research Fellow from China Institute of International Studies