JAL has been actively shopping for alliance membership, but has wanted too much. The CEO of JAL has been quoted as saying that the time has come for JAL to join an alliance. Given the Star and Skyteam composition it seems impossible for JAL to join anything but Oneworld now. In the past JAL was so strong and so desirable that it could ask the world, now I am not so sure. Oneworld desperately needs coverage for China (of course Dragonair could do this, and that seems a lot more likely after the Taiwan deal).