[jaguar]

Know why? The guys in charge of that delightful little operation were given full immunity by the US in exchange for the data.

The reason this came to the forefront now is more short-term political opportunism on the part of the Chinese than anything else, partly the issue of Japan having a permanant seat on the security council, oil pipelines from Russia, oil exploration in a zone right on the border of their economic exclusion zones and regional powergames. Don't forget they did some not-nice things to the Koreans as well, an issue that comes up every time ownership of a group of islands between them comes up. China has actively encouraged this japan hatred of course.