Germany to post troops in France

The AP reports today that Germany is going to station troops in France for the first time since the Nazi occupation of France prior to 1945. The French-German joint military brigade, currently stationed on the German side of the border and comprised of troops from both countries, will send approximately 600 of the 2800 German troops in the Brigade to a location in France. (There are 2,300 French troops in the Brigade). They have served in the Balkans and Afghanistan together.



This could not be more starkly different than Sino-Japanese relations. Remember back to the May 2008 earthquake and flooding in China, when the Chinese requested Japanese assistance. Ultimately, the plan to use Japanese ASDF planes did not pan out - its simply too sensitive.

While German reconciliation with its neighbors is often held up as the gold standard for Japan (and has its own problems), it does illustrate the distance that these other two WWII adversaries need to make up in their long efforts at reconciliation.