synonymous expressions

Re: synonymous expressions


Those all sound right; however, in order to get an answer that's useful you'll need to show the context of what is written is support of that.

About Diaoyu Islands/Senkaku Islands
It's about defending, protecting, or safeguarding the Diaoyu Islands, which Chinese government claims to be China's territory.

Defend.

"protect" is normally used in an environmental sense.

"defend" in a military sense.

"safeguard" in a social or legal sense.

But generalisations are difficult.

forfend

hardly helpful.

you think not

I think that if anyone writes in with a genuine language question, particularly someone who may not be fluent in the language, then it is common courtesy to try to answer the question properly.

When we ask for context, fansy, think of an essay or an article which would have several sentences leading up to the one you wanted us to talk about. And give us the sentence you think they could be used in, not just the phrases. Any of those three could be correct, often several of them simultaneously, depending on the circumstances. For example, is the island under threat? Is some other country counter-claiming them. Are they likely to invade? Is there going to be a World Court case? Is China merely blowing smoke to scare any other possible claimants off? Are there inhabitants who reject China's claim or support it? Those are the kinds of things we mean when we ask for context. "Defend" is likely to mean something like you're out there walking up and down the beach iwth AK-47s. "Protect" is kind of like the vigilant cop standing on the corner waiting for a threat to materialize but not actually doing anything, more portentially ready to do something. "Safeguard" I find kind of harder to provide a suitable use.

And I'm also having a hard time with this because I am reminded strongly of Tibet, which China thinks of as historically being part of China, but which the Tibetans think of as being Tibetan, not Chinese, and regards the Chinese as invaders and occupiers. Most of the rest of the world agrees with the Tibetans, not the Chinese. I'm sorry, but that's the world's view. So I would have a hard time using any of those three words to define China's role in Tibet, which colors the reaction to the Diaoyu islands.

Is safeguarding okay?
Here is my translation of the opening paragraph:

Thank you, much easier to figure out the intent with that help. And I can see using any of the three in that context, without any significant difference in the meaning. Maybe someone else will see some fine shade of difference, but I don't. I think all three work.