US-Venezuelan relations at all time low and US could reciprocate Reuters, 2/19/14 (http://www.reuters.

com/article/2014/02/19/us-venezuela-usaidUSBREA1I20M20140219) Accessed 2/19/14 at 5:47pm

Reuters) - The United States said on Wednesday it was considering its response to Venezuela's expulsion of three U.S. diplomats and said this could include reciprocal action in Washington. Venezuela ordered the expulsions on Monday, accusing the Americans of recruiting students to lead protests in Caracas that led to the most serious violence since President Nicolas Maduro's election in April. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf, calling the accusations "baseless and false," said: "There's a couple of things we can do." "One is, in accordance with article nine of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations, and article 23 of the Vienna Convention on consular relations, the U.S. can take reciprocal action (in Washington)," she said. Venezuela, a major oil exporting nation, has often expelled U.S. diplomats in recent years as the relationship between the two countries frayed during the 14-year rule of late socialist leader Hugo Chavez. Five people have been killed in the current unrest. Protest leader Leopoldo Lopez, a 42-year-old Harvard-educated economist, surrendered to troops on Tuesday after leading three weeks of demonstrations against Maduro's government.

Japan-China tensions increasing and US stands with Japan Ida Torres, 2/18/14 (http://japandailypress.com/3-chinese-ships-enter-disputed-waters-near-senkakus-1844418/) Ida
Torres is a popular journalist for the Japan Daily News)

The Japan Coast Guard said that three Chinese ships entered the disputed waters near the Senkaku
Islands on Sunday and Monday, the latest such incident marring the relations between the Asian superpowers. The last time there was an intrusion in these parts was earlier this month when

Chinese vessels sailed in the same area last February 2. On Sunday, the 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture reported that three vessels were treading near territorial waters. They warned the ships that they were intruding in the countrys territory but
one of the ships responded in both Japanese and Chinese language that the islands are inherent territory of China. Then on Monday, the Haijing 2102, the Haijing 2113 and the Haijing 2151,

part of Chinas own Coast Guard, went into the 12-nautical-mile waters southeast of Minamikojima, which is one of the islands, at around 10:00 AM and left three hours later. This is already the fourth intrusion this year, an occurrence that is becoming even more common as the situation between the two countries becomes even more tense . A few days earlier, US Secretary of State John Kerry met with President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Keqiang and expressed the USs concern over their territorial ambitions, particularly over the establishment of the air defense identification zone (ADIZ) over the East China Sea. He also warned Beijing not to push through with a similar zone in the South China Sea, where China has disputes with Southeast Asian countries like Vietnam and the Philippines . Kerry earlier reiterated Washingtons position that
they would defend their ally, Japan, over any attack as part of their defense treaty .