China and Japan Both Seems To Be Ramping Up Toward Hostilities

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China and Japan Both Seems To Ramping Up Toward Hostilities


Demonstrators march during a protest over the Diaoyu islands issue, known as the Senkaku islands in Japan, outside the Japanese Embassy in Beijing on September 18, 2012. (AFP Photo/Mark Ralston)
William Engdahl
Russia Today
The simmering conflict between Japan and China over three islands in the East China Sea has just gotten significantly closer to an open conflict.
Japan’s nationalist Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has just given orders to shoot down any aircraft, including Chinese surveillance drones, flying over “Japanese airspace” that refuses to leave.
As Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party was a creation of the US occupation after World War II and is known to be very close to Washington, it suggests that the Obama administration has given Abe the green light.
On October 23, Abe gave orders to his Defense Ministry to shoot down any foreign drones that ignore warnings to leave Japanese airspace.

In a recent Wall Street Journal interview, Abe also said that a resurgent Japan will “take a more assertive leadership role in Asia to counter China’s power” and be placed “at the helm of countries in the region nervous about Beijing’s military buildup.”
In response, Geng Yansheng, spokesman for China’s Defense Ministry, said that the training and flight of its military aircraft, including drones, over “relevant areas” of the East China Sea was in line with international law and practice.
Then he delivered the alarming statement: “Chinese aircraft have never infringed on other countries’ airspace, and China never allows other countries’ aircraft to infringe on China’s airspace.”
Geng added that if Japan took such moves, it would be a severe provocation to China and “an act of war, and China will take resolute measures to strike back. The Japanese side shall be responsible for the consequence.”
Japanese nationalists carry national flags and placards during a rally over the Senkaku islands issue, known as the Diaoyu islands in China, in Tokyo on September 18, 2012. (AFP Photo/Yoshikazu Tsuno)
Following the Japanese orders to shoot down Chinese drones in its airspace, China sent four coastguard vessels to the disputed waters. The same day, China’s state-run Global Times wrote: “China has not been involved in war for a long time, but a war looms following Japan’s radical provocation.”
With the statements from the two sides, the situation is rapidly degenerating into a Mexican standoff where if either side capitulates, they lose face. If both sides escalate, it could spell war and economic catastrophe for the region and for the entire world, especially if China is isolated.
Edward Luttwak, a former Pentagon consultant and neo-conservative at the Washington-based Center for Strategic & International Studies, notes that it is against the Japanese character to retreat. He believes the Japanese will uphold orders to shoot down a Chinese drone if China tests the Japanese resolve. At that point the focus is on China.
Luttwak remarked: “They’re playing with fire, but I cannot bring myself to believe that the Chinese leadership would actually cross the threshold.” He believes one of two things are behind China’s threats.
“Either the Chinese government has taken leave of its senses,” or they’re using an age-old Chinese strategy “that you win by clever theatrical displays.” He added, “The tiny shooting incident would initiate a chain of major economic consequences. It would bring to an end the cycle of Chinese prosperity.”
Behind the islands clash

In early September 2012, the Japanese government of Abe’s predecessor, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, announced provocatively that it had decided to “buy” several islands in a disputed uninhabited island chain that are called the Diaoyu Islands in China.
Thereby, Japan asserted its claim to all subsea rights surrounding the island group. Going back to China’s Ming Dynasty, the Diaoyu Islands were regarded as a marine defense zone and governed by the Ming Chinese government.
The islands have enormous military-strategic significance for China’s coastal defense and the area around the islands is believed to hold huge deposits of vital oil and gas that could ease Chinese oil import dependence.
According to Kenichiro Sasae, Japan’s ambassador to Washington, “The US government has made it clear that the islands are covered by the Japan-US Security Treaty.” Sasae added that when Tokyo asked Washington’s views on whether Japan’s government should officially buy the islands, “The United States did not raise any opposition” to the move, he said. The US stance “was that it is a matter for Japan to decide.”
That US stance echoes very ominously the provocative stance that US Ambassador to Iraq, April Glaspie, was told to deliver to Iraq’s Saddam Hussein days before Hussein decided to invade Kuwait, when she conveyed the message from Washington’s Bush administration that whatever happened between Kuwait and Iraq was between those two countries and of little interest to Washington.
According to Zhang Haiwen, associate director of the China Institute for Marine Affairs under the State Oceanic Administration of China, “Japan may further ask for an exclusive economic zone of 200 nautical miles and may take the Diaoyu Islands as the base to divide the continental shelf of the East China Sea and further ask for the relevant oil and gas resources.”
Japanese nationalists carry national flags and placards during a rally over the Senkaku islands issue, known as the Diaoyu islands in China, in Tokyo on September 18, 2012. (AFP Photo/Yoshikazu Tsuno)
Zhang pointed out that geopolitically, the Diaoyu Islands have huge strategic and military value. The islands are the first island chain in the West Pacific, and are a springboard for entering China from the Pacific. ”If Japan controls the waters, it means Japan has clutched the throat of the channel in which China goes to the open sea of the Pacific,” Zhang said.
On Sept. 10, 2012, the Chinese Foreign Ministry issued a formal protest over the provocative Japanese “buying” of the islands: “Regardless of repeated strong representations of the Chinese side, the Japanese government announced on 10 September 2012 the “purchase” of the Diaoyu Island and its affiliated Nan Xiaodao and Bei Xiaodao and the implementation of the so-called “nationalization” of the islands. This constitutes a gross violation of China’s sovereignty over its own territory.”
The Japanese government has repeatedly stirred up troubles in recent years on the issue of the Diaoyu Island. Particularly since the start of the year, the Japanese government has endorsed rightwing forces to clamor for the “purchase” of Diaoyu Island and some of its affiliated islands in an attempt to pave the way for a government “purchase” of the islands… We cannot but ask: where is Japan heading to? Can anyone rest assured of Japan’s future course of development?
The military pressures on China since President Obama’s November 2011 China-focused “Asia Pivot” shift was proclaimed, have become apparent. How China’s new leadership will handle this delicate strategic dilemma will be a major test of its capabilities. Obviously a military solution is not the winning strategy as the US stands behind Japan. Over the coming months the stage is being carefully set for a colossal power confrontation between the rising China and its Eurasian allies, including prominently Putin’s Russia with Washington.

China continues a territorial dispute with Japan in the East China Sea over the islands called the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China

China has claimed much of the South China Sea for itself — claims that have upset many in the region, especially Vietnam and the Philippines. A huge wealth of untapped oil is believed to be below the sea here.

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23 November 2013 Last updated at 01:28 ET
China establishes 'air-defence zone' over East China Sea
Islands in the East China Sea, called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese
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China has demarcated an "air-defence identification zone" over an area of the East China Sea, covering islands that are also claimed by Japan.

China's Defence Ministry said aircraft entering the zone must obey its rules or face "emergency defensive measures".

The zone came into effect from 10:00 local time (02:00GMT) on Saturday.

The islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, are a source of rising tension between the countries.

In its statement, the Defence Ministry said aircraft must report a flight plan, "maintain two-way radio communications", and "respond in a timely and accurate manner" to identification inquiries.

"China's armed forces will adopt defensive emergency measures to respond to aircraft that do not co-operate in the identification or refuse to follow the instructions," said the statement.

A map posted on Twitter by state news agency Xinhua showed the zone covering a wide area of the East China Sea, including regions very close to South Korea and Japan.
Rising tensions

Responding to questions about the zone on an official state website, a defence ministry spokesman, Yang Yujun, said China set up the area "with the aim of safeguarding state sovereignty, territorial land and air security, and maintaining flight order".

"It is not directed against any specific country or target," he said, adding that China "has always respected the freedom of over-flight in accordance with international law".

"Normal flights by international air liners in the East China Sea Air Defence Identification Zone will not be affected in any way."

There has been no response so far from Japan.

The islands have been a source of tension between China and Japan for decades.

In 2012, the Japanese government bought three of the islands from their Japanese owner, sparking mass protests in Chinese cities.

Since then, Chinese ships have repeatedly sailed in and out of what Japan says are its territorial waters.

In September this year, Japan said it would shoot down unmanned aircraft in Japanese airspace after an unmanned Chinese drone flew close to the disputed islands.

China said that any attempt by Japan to shoot down Chinese aircraft would constitute "an act of war".

Last month Japan's defence minister, Itsunori Onodera, said China's behaviour over the disputed East China Sea islands was jeopardising peace.

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Japanese Air-Defense Identification Zone:

http://sun-bin.blogspot.com/2006/05/...ification.html



Area of concern....
http://www.eia.gov/countries/analysi...es/dispute.png



PRC Air Defense Identification Zone in East China Sea....
http://www.china.org.cn/photos/2013-...t_30683715.htm


US military won't change how it operates in the East China Sea after China sets air defense zone, Defense Secretary Hagel says - @Reuters

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Pentagon slams Chinese move, says won't change how it operates

4:52 p.m. CST, November 23, 2013

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said on Saturday that the U.S. military would not change how it conducts operations in the East China Sea after what he called a "destabilizing" attempt by China to alter the status quo in the region.

China earlier on Saturday imposed new rules on airspace over islands at the heart of a dispute with U.S. ally Japan in the East China Sea, warning of "defensive emergency measures" against aircraft that do not comply with identification procedures.

"We view this development as a destabilizing attempt to alter the status quo in the region. This unilateral action increases the risk of misunderstanding and miscalculations," Hagel said in a statement.

"This announcement by the People's Republic of China will not in any way change how the United States conducts military operations in the region."


http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/s...,3549362.story

China claims contested airspace over islands, sets defense zone

Published time: November 24, 2013 03:07


AFP Photo / Mark Ralston

Japan and US are outraged after Beijing has declared eight uninhabited islands at the center of a territorial dispute with Tokyo part of China’s new aerial zone, warning of “defensive emergency measures” if the zone is violated.

Saturdays’ Statement by China’s Defense Ministry says that any Japanese planes in the vicinity of Senkaku/ Diaoyu Islands need to submit their flight patterns to China’s Foreign Ministry or civil aviation administration and they must maintain radio contact with Chinese authorities.

“The Chinese government has followed common international practices in the establishment of the zone, with aims of protecting its state sovereignty and territorial and airspace security, and maintaining flying orders. It is a necessary measure in China's exercise of self-defense rights. It has no particular target and will not affect the freedom of flight in relevant airspace,” China's Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told Xinhua.

The Chinese Air Force also conducted its first air patrol flights over the islands of the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone.

"The patrol is in line with international common practices, and the normal flight of international flights will not be affected," Shen Jinke, spokesman for Air Force told Xinhua.

Shen said that the Chinese armed forces will tackle air threats to protect the security of the country's airspace.


AFP Photo / Antoine Bouthier

Japan which also claims the territory as its own, in a statement by the Japanese Foreign Ministry, said that the creation of the airspace by the Chinese is “totally unacceptable and extremely regrettable.”

“Unilaterally establishing such airspace and restricting flights in the area is extremely dangerous as it may lead to miscalculation in the area,” the statement said.

Upon the announcement US Secretary of state said that he was “deeply concerned” about the situation.

“This unilateral action constitutes an attempt to change the status quo in the East China Sea,” Kerry said. “Escalatory action will only increase tensions in the region and create risks of an incident.”

“We urge China not to implement its threat to take action against aircraft that do not identify themselves or obey orders from Beijing,” Kerry said.

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel called the situation “a destabilizing attempt to alter the status quo,” saying that the US will still conducts military operations in the region.

Many than 20 countries, including Japan and the US enforce airspace identification zones where the aircraft flying over or next to it are required to identify themselves in the interest of national security.

The tensions over East China Sea islands have reached new levels of tension after the Japanese government bought three of the eight islands from a private owner in September 2012. The zone is believed to be surrounded by energy-rich waters abundant in oil, natural gas and fish.



Asian airlines to give flight plans to China after airspace zone created

By Ben Blanchard and Tim Kelly
BEIJING/TOKYO Mon Nov 25, 2013 7:44am EST



(Reuters) - Asian airlines will inform China of their flight plans before entering airspace over waters disputed with Japan, regional aviation officials said on Monday, effectively acknowledging Beijing's authority over a newly declared "Air Defense Identification Zone".

China published coordinates for the zone on the weekend. The area, about two-thirds the size of the United Kingdom, covers most of the East China Sea and the skies over a group of uninhabited islands at the centre of a bitter row between Beijing and Tokyo.

Japan and its close ally, the United States, sharply criticized the move, which experts said was aimed at chipping away at Tokyo's claim to administrative control over the area, including the tiny uninhabited islands known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China.

While China said the new rules would not affect "normal operations" for international flights, it added that it would take "defensive emergency measures" against aircraft that failed to identify themselves properly.

China's latest move could help spread the view that Japan was losing administrative control of the area, said Hiroko Maeda, research fellow at Japanese think-tank the PHP Institute.

"China has already been sending its ships (there). It is clear China is trying to undermine Japan's administrative control. Now they are stepping up their effort in the sky as well," Maeda said.

Civil aviation officials from Hong Kong and Taiwan said their carriers entering the zone must send flight plans to Chinese aviation authorities. A transport ministry official in Seoul said South Korean planes would do the same.

An official at the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau said Japanese airlines flying through the region to non-mainland Chinese destinations would likely need to inform China of their plans. "Airlines have been advised to take greater care in the area," said another bureau official.

Singapore Airlines and Qantas Airways Ltd said they would keep Chinese authorities informed of their flights through the area.

Korean Air said its flight plans would be delivered to Chinese authorities but the routes its pilots took would not be affected. Japan Airlines and ANA Holdings also said the zone had not affected their flights.

WAR OF WORDS

Japan protested the weekend move, warning of an escalation into the "unexpected" if Beijing enforced the rules. U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel called the move a "destabilizing attempt to alter the status quo in the region".

While Washington does not take a position on the sovereignty of the islands, it recognizes that Japan has administrative control over them and is therefore bound by treaty to defend Japan in the event of an armed conflict.

Tensions flared last year between Beijing and Tokyo when the Japanese government bought three of the islands from a private landowner to fend off a potentially more inflammatory purchase by the Tokyo metropolitan government, at the time headed by nationalist governor Shintaro Ishihara.

In the continuing war of words, China's Defence Ministry said on Monday it had lodged protests with the U.S. and Japanese embassies in Beijing over the criticism from Washington and Tokyo of the zone.

China also summoned Japan's ambassador, warning Tokyo to "stop (their) words and actions which create friction and harm regional stability", China's Foreign Ministry said. Meanwhile, Tokyo and Seoul summoned Chinese diplomats to protest.

Asian and Western diplomats said the zone was a problem for Japan, the United States and other countries that may be wary of any acknowledgement of China's claims over the area.

"No one wants to be in a position where by following Chinese instructions you are giving tacit acknowledgement of their sovereignty over a disputed area," one Asian diplomat said. "And there is a fear that is precisely the game that is being played - it seems no accident that the disputed Senkaku islands are now in the heart of overlapping zones."

Japan has its own Air Defence Identification Zone but officials said Tokyo only required aircraft seen to be approaching Japanese territorial airspace to identify themselves.

In its announcement on Saturday, China's Defence Ministry said it would set up other such zones when preparations were finalized. It gave no further details and the ministry's news department declined to elaborate when contacted by Reuters.

China also claims the South China Sea, which is believed to be rich in oil and gas. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also claim parts of the South China Sea, making it one of the region's biggest flashpoints.

CHINA PATROLS UNDER WAY

China's official Xinhua news agency said the rules for the East China Sea came into effect on Saturday and that the Chinese air force conducted its first patrol over the zone. The patrol included early warning aircraft and fighters, it said.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said China was forcing other countries to conform to its rules.

Abe, who came to office last December promising to beef up the nation's military, has said Tokyo's door is open to dialogue to improve Sino-Japanese ties but has declined to acknowledge the existence of a formal territorial dispute over the islands, a step upon which Beijing insists.

"It's a unilateral step, changing the status quo in the East China Sea," Abe said in parliament on Monday.

China's Defence Ministry said it was within the country's right to set up the zone.

"We reiterate that the purpose of China's approach is to defend national sovereignty and territorial airspace security, maintain the order of airspace flight, and is an effective exercise of our right of self-defence," spokesman Yang Yujun said in a statement.

Yang said China's move complied with international law.

"The United States, on the issue of the Diaoyu islands, must earnestly not take sides, not make inappropriate remarks and not give the wrong signal to Japan and encourage (its) risky behavior," Yang said.

Japan's own Air Defense Identification Zone extends around the Japanese archipelago and overlaps with China's new zone in part of the East China Sea.

"We might have more risk of encounters with Chinese aircraft in the area," said one former Japanese air force official. "We need to establish a system to avoid unnecessary incidents."

The topic was hot on China's Twitter-like Sina Weibo, with some users calling for war with Japan. "There can be no discussion on territorial issues, only war," wrote one user.

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Japan Rejects China’s Claim to Air Rights Over Islands

By MARTIN FACKLER

Published: November 24, 2013

TOKYO — Japan’s foreign minister on Sunday refused to recognize China’s newly claimed air defense zone over disputed islands, signaling that Japan would not back down as tensions increased in the maritime dispute.

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Kyodo, via Reuters

Tensions increased further on Sunday between Japan and China over a disputed group of islands in the East China Sea.

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China on Saturday said its “air defense identification zone” would give it the right to identify and possibly take military action against aircraft near the islands in the East China Sea. The uninhabited islands are administered by Japan but claimed by China and Taiwan.

China’s announcement appeared to be the latest step in what analysts have called a strategy to chip away at Japan’s claims of control of the islands. Japan has long maintained a similar air defense zone over them.

The Japanese foreign minister, Fumio Kishida, called the Chinese declaration a dangerous escalation that could lead to what many military analysts most fear in the tense standoff: a miscalculation or accident that could set off an armed confrontation and drag the United States into the conflict.

“It was a one-sided action and cannot be allowed,” Mr. Kishida told reporters, according to Japan’s Kyodo News. It could also “trigger unpredictable events,” he warned.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs promptly rejected Mr. Kishida’s objections. “The Japanese side’s irresponsible comments about China’s demarcation of an East China Sea air defense identification zone are totally wrong,” a spokesman for the ministry, Qin Gang, said in comments published on its website on Sunday.

In a statement on Saturday, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel warned that the American government viewed the Chinese move “as a destabilizing attempt to alter the status quo in the region.” He also reaffirmed that the United States would stand by its security treaty obligations to aid Japan if it were attacked.

For now, the United States and Japan appear to be trying to determine how serious China is about policing its newly declared zone, or whether the declaration is a political gesture to try to appease nationalist sentiments. However, it is equally unclear how Japan would respond if China tries to enforce it. Mr. Kishida did not say whether Japan would take any countermeasures, like increasing patrols in the airspace over the islands, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China.

Mr. Qin dismissed criticisms from Secretary of State John Kerry and Mr. Hagel, and said the Chinese Foreign Ministry had complained to the American ambassador to Beijing, Gary Locke, about their remarks.

“The United States really should not take sides on the question of sovereignty over the Diaoyu islands,” Mr. Qin said.

In a sign of the heightened tensions, Japan’s Defense Ministry said on Saturday that it had scrambled two F-15 fighter jets to intercept a pair of Chinese surveillance planes approaching the islands. It said the Chinese planes turned back without incident.

A spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of National Defense accused Japan of using its defense zone to harass Chinese military planes.

“This is seriously impeding freedom of flight, and could very easily trigger a safety accident or unexpected incident,” said the spokesman, Col. Yang Yujun.

By setting up a competing air defense zone, China may be trying to show that its claim to the islands is as convincing as Japan’s, Japanese officials said. They said China appeared to have a similar objective last Thursday, when Chinese coast guard officers boarded a Chinese fishing boat near the islands.

When hailed by a Japanese coast guard vessel, the Chinese coast guard crew said it was monitoring fishing in Chinese waters, Japan’s coast guard said.


China slams 'inappropriate' U.S. remarks on territorial dispute with Japan

By Jethro Mullen and Chelsea J. Carter, CNN
updated 2:08 AM EST, Mon November 25, 2013


Hong Kong (CNN) -- China has told the United States to butt out of a territorial dispute with Japan in the East China Sea after Washington warned that a military claim by Beijing to airspace in the region raises the risk of "misunderstanding and miscalculations." The creation of an "Air Defense Identification Zone" by China comes amid increasing tensions between Beijing and Tokyo over competing claims to disputed islands in the sea, which are believed to be situated near large reserves of natural resources.

China's announcement Saturday of the zone, which it described as an early-warning system for self-defense, drew a swift response from the United States, Japan's closest military ally.

Chinese 'air defense zone'

Washington warned that the latest Chinese move creates the risk of potentially dangerous miscalculations in the sensitive region, where Chinese and Japanese ships and planes have already been involved in tense encounters.

"This unilateral action constitutes an attempt to change the status quo in the East China Sea. Escalatory action will only increase tensions in the region and create risks of an incident," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said.

"We have urged China to exercise caution and restraint, and we are consulting with Japan and other affected parties throughout the region," Kerry said. The United States has thousands of troops stationed in Japan as part of a security treaty between the two allies.

'Inappropriate remarks'

But Chinese officials dismissed the U.S. comments as unjustified interference.

American criticism of the air zone announcement is "completely unreasonable," Col. Yang Yujun, a Ministry of National Defense spokesman, said Sunday.

The United States should stop taking sides on the issue, cease making "inappropriate remarks" and not send any more "wrong signals" that could lead to a "risky move by Japan," he said.

Beijing demands that the United States respect Chinese national security, stop making "irresponsible remarks" about the air defense identification zone and make "concrete efforts" for peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, Yang said.

The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it had lodged a representation with U.S. Ambassador Gary Locke asking the United States "to correct its mistakes immediately."


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The dispute over the islands -- known as the Senkaku Islands by Japan and the Diaoyu Islands by China -- has strained relations between the two East Asian countries. The islands are close to strategically important shipping lanes and their surrounding waters are full of rich marine life.

The Chinese defense ministry said the new air zone was not directed toward a specific country. But it released a map and coordinates that show the zone covers most of the East China Sea, as well as the islands.

And it warned that its armed forces "will adopt defensive emergency measures to respond to aircraft that do not cooperate in the identification or refuse to follow the instructions."

China's declaration is "definitely a net escalation in the dispute" with Japan, said Stephanie Kleine-Ahlbrandt, director of Asia-Pacific programs at the U.S. Institute of Peace.

"It makes it more likely that jets will be scrambled," she said. "An aerial encounter carries a much higher risk because of the faster timings involved" than in a maritime encounter.

'Profoundly dangerous'

Japan on Sunday expressed "deep concern" about the Chinese announcement, describing it as "profoundly dangerous."

The new Chinese measures "unilaterally change the status quo in the East China Sea, escalating the situation, and that may cause unintended consequences," the Japanese foreign ministry said in a statement.

Tokyo "cannot accept at all" that the Chinese air zone claim includes the disputed islands, which Japan considers "an inherent part" of its territory, the statement said, adding that the Japanese government has "already made strong protests to China."

Chinese officials appeared unimpressed by the Japanese complaints.

Tokyo's remarks are "utterly groundless and China won't accept them," Yang said, observing that Japan had set up its own air defense identification zone in the 1960s.

He reiterated Beijing's claim to the disputed islands and said its determination to ensure sovereignty over them was "unwavering."

Defense ministry officials have made "solemn representations" on the matter to the Japanese Embassy in China, he said.

The South Korean government also expressed regret Sunday over the Chinese announcement, saying the new air defense zone partially overlaps with its territory, the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported.

'Misunderstanding and miscalculations'

The Chinese defense ministry has said it began patrols of the air zone on Saturday.

Japan's defense ministry said two Chinese planes came within miles of its airspace, prompting authorities to scramble Japanese fighter jets.

It's the second time this month that Japan has launched fighter jets, alleging Chinese planes appeared to be closing in on its air space.

READ: Chinese plane lets gamers fight over islands

U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel called the move by China an attempt to destabilize the status quo in the region, saying it "increases the risk of misunderstanding and miscalculations."

"This announcement by the People's Republic of China will not in any way change how the United States conducts military operations in the region," Hagel said.

U.S. and Japanese forces are due to hold joint naval exercises this week off Okinawa -- a few hundred kilometers from the disputed islands.

Competing claims

The long-running disagreement over who owns the islands intensified between Japan and China in the second half of 2012.

Protests erupted in China after Japan announced it had bought several of the disputed islands from private Japanese owners. The deal was struck in part to prevent the islands from being bought by the controversial Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, who had called for donations for a public fund to buy them.

READ: Asia's disputed islands -- who claims what?

China was outraged, as were groups of its citizens who protested violently in several Chinese cities, calling for boycotts of Japanese products and urging the government to give the islands back.

In December 2012, the dispute escalated further when Japan scrambled fighter jets after a Chinese plane was seen near the islands. That situation has recurred repeatedly since, and China's latest announcement makes it likely it will keep happening.

At sea, Chinese ships have frequently entered contested waters despite warnings from the Japanese Coast Guard.

China says its claim extends back hundreds of years. Japan says it saw no trace of Chinese control of the islands in an 1885 survey, so formally recognized them as Japanese sovereign territory in 1895. Japan then sold the islands in 1932 to descendants of the original settlers.

The Japanese surrender at the end of World War II in 1945 only served to cloud the issue further.

The islands were administered by the U.S. occupation force after the war. But in 1972, Washington returned them to Japan as part of its withdrawal from Okinawa.

Taiwan, which Beijing regards as a breakaway province, also lays claim to the islands.

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U.S. Warns China Over East China Sea Maritime Grab

http://freebeacon.com/u-s-warns-chin...maritime-grab/

BY: Bill Gertz
November 25, 2013 5:00 am



The Pentagon invoked a U.S. defense treaty with Japan and warned China on Saturday that its declaration of an air defense zone over the East China Sea is increasing the danger of military conflict.

Both Secretary of State John Kerry and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel issued statements late Saturday expressing “deep concern” over China’s creation of the air defense identification zone, or ADIZ, that extends over Japan’s Senkaku Islands, which China claims as its territory.

“We view this development as a destabilizing attempt to alter the status quo in the region,” Hagel said. “This unilateral action increases the risk of misunderstanding and miscalculations.”

Hagel then reaffirmed the U.S. military commitment to the 1952 U.S.-Japan Mutual Defense Treaty.

“The United States reaffirms its longstanding policy that Article V of the U.S. Japan Mutual Defense Treaty applies to the Senkaku Islands,” Hagel said.

A reference to the defense treaty is the clearest sign that the Pentagon fears China will use the creation of a new air defense zone to block U.S. and Japanese aircraft or ships from passing through the zone that includes large areas of international waters.

Such actions could set off the use of force and a military confrontation.

A Chinese map of the new defense zone shows that it overlaps Japan’s defense zone over the Senkakus.

China’s defense ministry warned in a statement Saturday that all aircraft that fail to comply with new Chinese rules for transit through the zone could be shot down.

“China’s armed forces will adopt defensive emergency measures to respond to aircraft that do not cooperate in the identification or refuse to follow the instructions,” the ministry said in a statement.

In Tokyo, the government called China’s action “very dangerous” and said it would not accept territorial encroachment over the Senkakus.

Junichi Ihara, chief of the Foreign Ministry’s Asian and Oceania Affairs Bureau, protested the action to an official at the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo, according to a ministry statement. Ihara told the Chinese that Japan would “never accept the zone set up by China” because it covers the Senkakus. Creation of the defense zone also will “escalate” tense relations and he said the move was “very dangerous,” Agence France Presse reported from Tokyo.

The U.S.-Japan defense treaty obligates U.S. military forces to act against any attack against Japan or the United States within Japanese territorial administration, waters that include the Senkakus, a group of uninhabited islands located south of Okinawa and north of Taiwan.

Until the announcement of the defense zone, the Obama administration had sent mixed signals to China regarding its maritime encroachment. It initially said it remained neutral in the dispute and belatedly said the Senkakus are covered by the U.S.-Japan defense accord.

A defense official said China has steadily stepped up tensions with Japan over the past year and that has increased the risk China will use its growing and increasingly technically advanced military forces to take action against Japan.

The United States was not notified in advance by China of the new zone, a defense official said. The lack of notification highlights the failure of both the diplomatic and military engagement policies toward China by the Obama administration.

Observers note that the unilateral action of setting up the defense zone also contradicts Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent call for creating a new type of major power relationship with the United States.

Kerry, fresh from concluding a nuclear deal with Iran in Geneva that will permit Tehran to continue enrichment of uranium, also said the United States is “deeply concerned” by China’s air defense zone over East China Sea.

“This unilateral action constitutes an attempt to change the status quo in the East China Sea,” Kerry said in a statement. “Escalatory action will only increase tensions in the region and create risks of an incident.”

Kerry said free overflight and sea transit are essential for the stability and security of the Pacific.

“We don’t support efforts by any state to apply its ADIZ [air defense identification zone] procedures to foreign aircraft not intending to enter its national airspace,” he said.

“We urge China not to implement its threat to take action against aircraft that do not identify themselves or obey orders from Beijing.”

Kerry said the United States has urged China to “exercise caution and restraint” and added that consultations are underway with Japan and other states.

Hagel said the declaration of the ADIZ by China “will not in any way change how the United States conducts military operations in the region.”

The U.S. position is being conveyed to China through military channels, he said.

Former State Department China specialist John Tkacik said he was concerned by Kerry’s mild rebuke of the Chinese in saying that the United States did not support China’s action.

“The phrase ‘we don’t support’ in diplomatese means something quite different from the phrase ‘we oppose,’” Tkacik said. “They convey a disagreement in principle, but lack of commitment to do anything about it.”

Tkacik noted that during the George W. Bush administration when Taiwan sought to alter the status quo, the U.S. government clearly stated it is opposed to any change in the status quo.

The Chinese will read the response as weakness, he said.

“I’m afraid this soon will force Washington’s hand. The ADIZ covering the Senkakus has been under Japanese or U.S. administration for 70 years; and the Senkakus have been Japanese-U.S. administered for 120 years,” Tkacik said. “If Washington decides that the U.S. does not have a dog in this fight, even though the U.S. Air Force invented the existing ADIZ’s in the 1950s, it’s curtains for the U.S.-Japan alliance.”

China for the past several months has been encroaching on waters near the Senkakus by sending maritime surveillance vessels and more recently naval warships, warplanes, and unmanned aircraft through the region.

The defense zone was announced on Saturday by the Chinese Defense Ministry. The ministry said in a statement that the zone included new rules for aircraft flying in the region.

The rules require aircraft to provide flight planning data for flights through the zone, and aircraft must maintain radio contact with Chinese air controllers.

All aircraft must use transponders that will allow the Chinese to track the flights through the zone, and must be properly marked.

Chinese interceptor aircraft conducted the first flights into the zone after it went into force at 10:00 am local time on Saturday, according to news reports from the region.
Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said through state-run media that the ADIZ was created to “identify, monitor, control and react to aircraft entering this zone with potential air threats.”
“The Chinese government sets up the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone with the aim of safeguarding state sovereignty, territorial land and air security, and maintaining flight order,” he said. “This is a necessary measure taken by China in exercising its self-defense right. It is not directed against any specific country or target. It does not affect the freedom of over-flight in the related airspace.”

Yang said other air defense zones are being considered. The zone applies only to military aircraft and commercial aviation will not be affected, he said.
In the South China Sea, China has triggered maritime disputes with Vietnam, Philippines and several other states by declaring that 90 percent of the sea is Chinese territory. An air defense zone over the South China Sea could be a next step.

In addition to a potential conflict with Japan over its air and sea patrols over the Senkakus, the new zone will limit U.S. intelligence-gathering flights.
In 2001, a Chinese interceptor jet collided with a U.S. EP-3 surveillance flight near the same region, setting off a crisis.

The Chinese pilot was killed when his aircraft crashed in the East China Sea. The U.S. crew made an emergency landing and was held captive by the Chinese until being released later.

[vector7]

U.S. Directly Challenges China's Air Defense Zone

Pair of American B-52 Bombers Fly Over Disputed Island Chain

By Julian E. Barnes connect

Updated Nov. 26, 2013 12:11 p.m. ET

The planes flew out of Guam and entered the new Chinese Air Defense Identification Zone at about 7 p.m. Washington time Monday, according to a U.S. official.

Over the weekend, Beijing said it was expanding its Air Defense Identification Zone to include the island chain, which is claimed by both Beijing and Tokyo but administered by Japan. The islands, the source of growing friction in the region, are known as the Diaoyu Islands in China and Senkaku Islands in Japan.

Defense officials earlier had promised that the U.S. would challenge the zone and would not comply with Chinese requirements to file a flight plan, radio frequency or transponder information.

The flight of the B-52s, based at Anderson Air Force Base in Guam, were part of a long planned exercise called Coral Lightening. The bombers were not armed and were not accompanied by escort planes.


Two U.S. B-52 strategic bombers enter China’s new Air Defense Identification Zone over disputed islands

Nov 26 2013 - Leave a Comment

By David Cenciotti

A flight of two U.S. B-52 bombers have reportedly entered the new Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) over East China Sea on Nov. 25 without informing Beijing, according to a U.S. official who spoke to the Wall Street Journal.

The two aircraft departed from Guam airbase and flew close to the disputed islands without complying with any of the rules set by Beijing for the new ADIZ over Diaoyu Islands (known as Senkaku islands in Japan).

The question is: did China’s air defense detect them? Did they try to intercept the two B-52s?

The two bombers, unarmed and not escorted by any fighter plane, were involved in a previous planned exercise dubbed “Coral Lightening”.

Even if the U.S. has already flown “extended deterrence” missions in the Asia-Pacific region in the past, this is an unprecedented direct challenge to China and its threats to Washington’s local allies.


US Bombers Challenge China’s Air Defense Identification Zone

Defying orders from Beijing, a pair of B-52 bombers fly over the Senkaku Islands without informing China on Monday.

By Zachary Keck
November 27, 2013



U.S. bombers challenged China’s recently established Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea, according to the Wall Street Journal.

In a report citing U.S. defense officials, the WSJ said that American B-52 bombers flew over the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands on Monday without informing Beijing ahead of time. The report said that the bombers took off from Anderson Air Force Base in Guam and entered into China’s new ADIZ around 7 PM local time on Monday. They were not armed or accompanied by any escort planes.

America maintained that the B-52s flight was part of a long-planned exercise called Coral Lightning.

Still, the flight represented a clear challenge to China, which announced it was establishing an East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on Saturday morning. It later said that Chinese planes had begun patrolling the area.

As expected, the move to establish an ADIZ drew sharp rebukes from both Japan and the United States, with Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel saying that the United States views “this development as a destabilizing attempt to alter the status quo in the region.” Hagel added that “This unilateral action increases the risk of misunderstanding and miscalculations.”

In the official Pentagon press release, Hagel went on to say that “This announcement by the People’s Republic of China will not in any way change how the United States conducts military operations in the region.” Japan also said that it would not comply with the rules that Beijing announced it would be enforcing in the airspace covered by the ADIZ, which includes the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands and overlaps with Japan’s own ADIZ. Tokyo also scrambled fighter jets in response to China’s patrols over the airspace.

China quickly responded to both Japan and the Pentagon’s comments. Toward the latter, Beijing called on the Pentagon to uphold Washington’s promise that it would not take sides on sovereignty disputes, and asked it to “stop making irresponsible comments.”

There has been some dispute among defense experts about whether China has the capability to actually enforce its conditions. Defense News quoted an unnamed U.S. defense industry source located in Asia as saying, “Let China run itself crazy trying to enforce this. I just can’t see how China will sustain the enforcement. Too much traffic goes through there. If no country recognizes it, [and] don’t respond to China’s IFF [identification friend or foe] interrogation or VID [visual identification], then this new ADIZ is meaningless.”

Notably, China’s announcement also won it the ire of South Korea, one of the few states in the region that Beijing had thus far avoided offending over sovereignty issues in the past few years. According to the Wall Street Journal, China’s new ADIZ overlaps with about 3,000 square kilometers of South Korea’s own ADIZ. It also encloses Ieodo (Suyan) Rock that South Korea administers but China also claims. Seoul and Beijing will discuss the issue an already scheduled vice defense ministerial-level strategic dialogue in the South Korean capital this week.

[Ryan Ruck]

U.S. Directly Challenges China's Air Defense Zone

Pair of American B-52 Bombers Fly Over Disputed Island Chain

Uh oh... Barry's gonna fire some more Generals!

[vector7]

RT @Galrahn: JDF has reportedly dispatched destroyers to the disputed Senkakus islands. China is manipulating our moves, apparently.

Raymond Pritchett ‏@Galrahn 40s

The @USNavy is not hiding. USS George Washington position was intentionally revealed as near disputed Senkakus islands.



http://m.timesofindia.com/world/chin...w/26424722.cms
China's first aircraft carrier steams towards disputed South China Sea

Nov 26, 2013, 07.06PM IST Reuters



The Liaoning left port from the northern city of Qingdao accompanied by two destroyers and two frigates, the Chinese navy said.

BEIJING: China sent its sole aircraft carrier on a training mission into the South China Sea on Tuesday amid maritime disputes with the Philippines and other neighbours and tension over its plan to set up an airspace defence zone in waters disputed with Japan.

The Liaoning, bought used from Ukraine and refurbished in China, has conducted more than 100 exercises and experiments since it was commissioned last year but this is the first time it has been sent to the South China Sea.

The Liaoning left port from the northern city of Qingdao accompanied by two destroyers and two frigates, the Chinese navy said on an official news website.

While there, it will carry out "scientific research, tests and military drills", the report said.

"This is the first time since the Liaoning entered service that it has carried out long-term drills on the high seas," it added.

The timing of the drills is bound to raise eyebrows with its neighbours, given the overlapping maritime disputes. China has lodged formal protests with the United States and Japan after both criticised its plan to impose new rules on airspace over disputed waters in the East China Sea.

On Tuesday, Australia said it had summoned China's ambassador to express concern over its imposition of the air defence identification zone.

China also claims almost the entire oil- and gas-rich South China Sea, conflicting with claims from Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines and Vietnam.

That dispute is one of the region's biggest flashpoints amid China's military build-up and the US strategic "pivot" back to Asia.

Though considered decades behind US technology, the Liaoning represents the Chinese navy's blue-water ambitions and has been the focus of a campaign to stir patriotism.

'Not overly concerned'

Rommel Banlaoi, executive director of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research, said he thought the Liaoning was still years away from representing a real threat.

"China is still developing its own model of carrier operations and its technology is (far) behind the United States," he said. "Personally, I would not be overly concerned with an old diesel-powered aircraft carrier on a training mission."

The navy did not specify exactly what training would be done, only noting that previous exercises involving aircraft landing and taking off had gone well.

Previously reported training exercises have mostly been in the Yellow Sea, between China and the Korean peninsula.

"Obviously the Chinese authorities have been adopting a series of measures to strengthen their claim on the sovereignty of the disputed territories," said Joseph Cheng, a political science professor at City University of Hong Kong.

"You see Japan and Southeast Asian countries have also been making gestures and taking steps to strengthen sovereignty, so China has to respond."

China's navy said the mission was routine, adding that the Liaoning was still in a testing phase.

"This test visit to the South China Sea is part of normal arrangements for testing and training for the Liaoning," it said.

"...Long cross-sea voyages are a necessary stage of experimentation and training to test equipment and troops under continuous work and different hydrological and meteorological conditions."

[vector7]

U.S. carrier battle group and Japanese warships arrive on Wednesday

Japan and the USA will challenge China's claim to a stretch of the ocean during military exercises this week

(Photo: Jerome Favre, epa)

Story Highlights

• China claiming nearly 1 million square miles of East China Sea
• Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe confronts China
• U.S. treaty obligates Pentagon to defend Japan

SHARE 1359 CONNECT 178 TWEET 145 COMMENTEMAILMORE

NAHA, OKINAWA, Japan — An American carrier battle group and a flotilla of Japanese warships will arrive Wednesday near a vast stretch of ocean claimed by China in what is shaping up as a test of how Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the USA will stand up to the challenge.

The joint U.S.-Japan exercises in the sea are a direct challenge to China's claim. On Tuesday, the U.S. military said two Air Force B-52 bombers flew over the sea without notifying Beijing despite China's demand that it be told if anyone plans to fly military aircraft over its self-claimed "air defense zone."

The aircraft took off from Guam on Monday, part of a regular exercise, said a U.S. defense official who spoke to AFP news service on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to divulge the information.

China has been laying claim to nearly 1 million square miles of ocean known as the East China Sea, insisting that the sea's energy resources and fisheries belong to China. Much of the ocean territory it claims is hundreds of miles from its shore, including waters off the coasts of Japan, Taiwan and South Korea.

On Saturday China went further than ever, announcing it had designated much of the sea as an air defense zone it controls. The zone includes the Japan-held Senkaku Islands, a string of uninhabited islets that China calls the Diaoyus. The Chinese Defense Ministry said the zone was created to "guard against potential air threats."

"China has been pushing and testing Abe since he took office and for the most part he has been passing," said Brad Glosserman, executive director of the Pacific Forum Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Honolulu.

"This is a very dumb, very risky move by China," he said. "If the People's Liberation Army tries to interfere (with the U.S.-Japan exercise), there will be real problems."

A B-52 passes overhead on May 16, 2007, at the National Security Forum air demonstration at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.(Photo: Karen S. Doerr, Montgomery Advertiser)

The challenge represents a test for Abe, a conservative party prime minister elected in 2012 who has vowed to shift Japan's deferential military posture to a more muscular stance that recognizes its right to defend itself.

On Tuesday, Abe directly confronted China, stating he would not recognize the Chinese air zone over the East China Sea or any of its claims to the Senkakus.

"We will take steps against any attempt to change the status quo by use of force as we are determined to defend the country's sea and airspace," Abe said.

For the United States' part, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the Chinese action represents a "destabilizing attempt to alter the status quo" and "will not in any way change how the United States conducts military operations in the region."

To that end, the U.S. Navy arrived in force Tuesday off the coast of Japan for a complex exercise in which Japanese naval ships and U.S. fighter jets, warships and submarines will practice scenarios for a possible attack on Japan.

Sailing into the waters southeast of Okinawa on Tuesday to prepare for a long-planned exercise was the aircraft carrier USS George Washington, guided-missile cruiser USS Antietam, guided-missile destroyers USS Curtis Wilbur, USS Lassen, USS McCampbell, USS Mustin, maritime patrol and reconnaissance aircraft and a Navy submarine.

China issued a protest with Japan and the U.S. government over the exercises and opposition to China's self-claimed right to an air defense zone over the sea. Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said Japan's complaint about the zone is "absolutely groundless and unacceptable," according to Japan's Kyodo news service.

Yang said Japan has "no right to make irresponsible remarks" on the sea's airspace, portions of which have been jointly administered by Japan and the United States for decades. Yujun also urged the United States to "not take sides."

Earlier this year, Japan scrambled fighter jets when Chinese planes flew near the Senkaku islands, a rich fishing ground annexed by Japan in 1895 and purchased by the legislature in 2012. Chinese interceptor aircraft conducted the first flights into the zone after it went into force at 10 a.m. on Saturday.

The Chinese moves have inflamed Japan and worried other nations that say they may now need to inform China when their commercial flights are heading over the East China Sea. It also has U.S. allies concerned that China is becoming more aggressive against them since the installation a year ago of Xi Jinping as leader of the Communist regime.

But Hagel reaffirmed the U.S. military commitment to the 1952 U.S.-Japan Mutual Defense Treaty that commits Washington to intervene in defense of Japan if there is an attack on Japanese-administered territory. And Abe has backed up his belief that Japan must modify its stance held since World War II that Japan's defense can be outsourced entirely to the United States.

Abe has been pressing for Japan to raise its readiness and play a bigger role in global security since he came to power in December 2012 and won a majority for his Liberal Democratic Party in the upper house of the Japan legislature in July.

Defense spending in Japan has seen its largest increase in 22 years, says Kyodo. The spending has zeroed in on boosting Japan's capabilities to defend against amphibious assaults.

But Abe has yet to garner the votes to change Japan's constitution so its defense forces can project the full military powers of a sovereign state. The constitution, written by the U.S. military after the defeat of Japan in WWII, restrains what Japan can do militarily.

The U.S. military retains bases in Japan, primarily in Okinawa, and exercises between the two militaries have grown in size and complexity in recent years.

Although precise locations have not been announced for the latest exercise, specific training events — which will include land-based patrol planes and other aircraft — are supposed to take place across large stretches of Japanese and international airspace, including parts of the East China Sea.

China's Ministry of National Defense announced that any foreign aircraft entering its newly drafted "East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone" must file a flight plan with Chinese authorities, stay in two-way radio contact and follow other instructions.

Failure to do so will result in "defensive emergency measures" by China's armed forces, according to the statement.

It is not clear why China chose to announce the new air restrictions now, said Narushige Michishita, Director of the Security and International Studies Program at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo. Whether Jinping approved of it or the military demanded it is unknown, Michishita said.

"It is a scary scenario," Michishita said. "What happens next is up to China."

[Toad]

Video from the B-52s defying airspace:

http://i.imgur.com/bY9PZYp.gif

[Ryan Ruck]

[American Patriot]

/chuckles

[vector7]

Japan Press: "China-Japan War To Break Out In January"

Submitted by Tyler Durden on 12/08/2013 16:51 -0500

Following China's unveiling of its air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea, overlapping a large expanse of territory also claimed by Japan, the Japanese media has, as The Japan Times reports, had a dramatically visceral reaction on the various scenarios of a shooting war. From Sunday Mainichi's "Sino-Japanese war to break out in January," to Flash's "Simulated breakout of war over the Senkakus," the nationalism (that Kyle Bass so notably commented on) is rising. Which side, wonders Shukan Gendai ominously, will respond to a provocation by pulling the trigger? The game of chicken between two great superpowers is about to begin.



Via The Japan Times,

Via The Japan Times,

Five out of nine weekly magazines that went on sale last Monday and Tuesday contained scenarios that raised the possibility of a shooting war.

...

First, let’s take Flash (Dec. 17), which ran a “Simulated breakout of war over the Senkakus,” with Mamoru Sato, a former Air Self-Defense Force general, providing editorial supervision. Flash’s scenario has the same tense tone as a Clancy novel, including dialog. On a day in August 2014, a radar operator instructs patrolling F-15J pilots to “scramble north” at an altitude of 65,000 feet to intercept a suspected intruder and proceeds from there.

Sunday Mainichi (Dec. 15) ran an article headlined “Sino-Japanese war to break out in January.” Political reporter Takao Toshikawa tells the magazine that the key to what happens next will depend on China’s economy.

“The economic situation in China is pretty rough right now, and from the start of next year it’s expected to worsen,” says Toshikawa. “The real-estate boom is headed for a total collapse and the economic disparities between the costal regions and the interior continue to widen. I see no signs that the party’s Central Committee is getting matters sorted out.”

An unnamed diplomatic source offered the prediction that the Chinese might very well set off an incident “accidentally on purpose”: “I worry about the possibility they might force down a civilian airliner and hold the passengers hostage,” he suggested.

In an article described as a “worst-case simulation,” author Osamu Eya expressed concerns in Shukan Asahi Geino (Dec. 12) that oil supertankers bound for Japan might be targeted.

“Japan depends on sea transport for oil and other material resources,” said Eya. “If China were to target them, nothing could be worse to contemplate.”

In an air battle over the Senkakus, the Geino article continues, superiority of radar communications would be a key factor in determining the outcome. Japanese forces have five fixed radar stations in Kyushu and four in Okinawa. China would certainly target these, which would mean surrounding communities would also be vulnerable.

One question that seems to be on almost everybody’s mind is, will the U.S. military become involved?

Shukan Gendai (Dec. 14) speculated that Chinese leader Xi Jinping might issue an order for a Japanese civilian airliner to be shot down. As a result of this, a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier would come to Japan’s aid and send up fighters to contend with the Chinese.

“Unlike Japan, the U.S. military would immediately respond to a radar lock-on threat by shooting down the Chinese planes,” asserts military analyst Mitsuhiro Sera. “It would naturally regard an aircraft flying overhead as hostile. They would shoot at it even if that were to risk discrediting the Obama administration.”

“With the creation of Japan’s National Security Council on Dec. 4, Japan-U.S. solidarity meets a new era,” an unnamed diplomatic source told Shukan Gendai. “If a clash were to occur between the U.S. and China, it would be natural for the Self-Defense Forces to provide backup assistance. This was confirmed at the ‘two-plus-two’ meeting on Oct. 3.”

“China is bent on wresting the Senkakus away from Japan, and if Japan dispatches its Self-Defense Forces, China will respond with naval and air forces,” Saburo Takai predicts in Flash. “In the case of an incursion by irregular forces, that would make it more difficult for the U.S. to become involved. Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs would protest through diplomatic channels, but China would attempt to present its takeover as a fait accompli.

“China fears a direct military confrontation with the U.S.,” Takai adds. “A few days ago, two U.S. B-52s transited the ADIZ claimed by China, but the flights were not for any vague purpose. I suppose the Chinese tracked the flights on their radar, but the B-52s have electronic detection functions that can identify radar frequencies, wavelength and source of the signals. These flights are able to lay bare China’s air defense systems. It really hits home to the Chinese that they can’t project their military power.”

Which side, wonders Shukan Gendai, will respond to a provocation by pulling the trigger? The game of chicken between two great superpowers is about to begin.

[vector7]

Japan explores 3 war scenorios with China amid ADIZ concerns

• Staff Reporter
• 2013-12-08
• 13:09 (GMT+8)

A Japanese F-15J fighter. (Photo/CNS)

Japan has responded to China's Nov. 23 announcement of its air defense indification zone (ADIZ) over the East China Sea by holding a television conference to discuss the possibility of dealing with China on three fronts — Taiwan, the Miyako waterway and the disputed Diaoyutai (Senkaku or Diaoyu) islands — within the next 10-15 years, according to the Toyko-based Sankei Shimbun.

Commanders from the Japan Air Self Defense (JASDF) Northern Air Defense Force, Central Air Defense Force, Southern Air Defense Force and Southwestern Composite Air Division were called up by the Air Defense Command HQ stationed at Yokota for the television conference on Dec. 5, the paper said.

During the conference, the JASDF said that from the beginning of this year, its F-15J fighters had conducted drills to test the capability of the Chinese radar system. The JASDF concluded that Chinese radar system is able to detect the movement of aircraft in high altitude only.

Commanders attending the conference pointed out that the Japanese early warning radar system in Kyoto prefecture — based in the western part of the nation — can cover the entire airspace over the disputed Diaoyutai islands, which Japan, China and Taiwan all lay claim to (called the Senkaku Islands in Japan and the Diaoyu Islands in China). It can also cover the Miyako waterway, which lies between the Japanese islands of Miyako and Okinawa, and is thus an advantage in a potential conflict against China and its military aircraft.

Realizing that this advantage will be lost if the disputed islands were to fall into Chinese hands, the meeting focused on three war scenarios. The first scenario examined the possibility that China may only attack the island chain. The second explored the possibility that China may launch an attack against both the Diaoyutai islands and Miyako waterway simultaneously, while in the third scenario, the Diaoyutai islands, Miyako waterway and Taiwan were all potential targets.

The meeting concluded that tensions and the risk of conflict between the two nation's military aircraft will increase in the future as China will now send fighters to regularly patrol its new ADIZ, the Sankei Shimbun said.

[American Patriot]

Who thinks this will turn into a real shooting war?

Japan? If they are counting on the United States to help them, they are probably thinking wrongly.

Americans, certainly will help them.

The US Government on the other hand... not so much, methinks.

[vector7]

South Korea declares new air defense zone….Overlaps Chinese and Japanese airspace


The zone incorporates airspace claimed by both China and Japan

Dec 09,2013

The Korean government yesterday announced its plans to expand its 62-year-old air defense identification zone (ADIZ), which overlaps with remote islands declared by China and Japan under similar zones.

The move, intended to counter Beijing’s unilateral declaration of a newly mapped East China Sea ADIZ on Nov. 23 that incorporates areas claimed by Korea and Japan, may only serve to further escalate tensions regarding air space in a region already riddled with territorial disputes.

Korea will expand the southern boundary of its ADIZ to incorporate waters 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of Ieodo, which will also coincide with its flight information region (FIR), a specific airspace set by the International Civil Aviation Organization in which flight information and alert services are provided. An ADIZ that is aligned with the FIR was considered most ideal in the planning process.

Kim Min-seok, a spokesman of the Ministry of National Defense, said that Korea consulted with the United States, China and Japan about its plans before making the announcement.

	Jang Hyuk, a senior policy official at the Ministry of National Defense, discusses Korea’s expanded air defense identification zone yesterday in a press conference at the ministry in Yongsan, Seoul. [NEWSIS]

Korea’s air defense identification zone(KADIZ), he added, was expanded “taking into consideration military air operations, the [flight information region], in accordance to aviation law, and bilateral relations.”

The KADIZ expansion is slated to take effect on Dec. 15, the Ministry of National Defense confirmed yesterday, adding that an additional seven days will be needed for preparations and to notify relevant authorities.

The expanded zone includes Ieodo, known internationally as Socotra Rock - which also falls within the ADIZ of Japan and China - but also the air space of nearby Mara Island and Hong Island, which was not previously included.

Effectively controlled by Korea, Ieodo is located 149 kilometers southwest of Korea’s southernmost Mara Island in the East China Sea, and 287 kilometers from China’s eastern Yushan Island in Zhejiang Province. China’s ADIZ also overlaps with the disputed Senkaku Islands - called Diaoyu by the Chinese - in the East China Sea.

The United States conveyed general support for Korea’s decision yesterday, saying that it appreciates that Korea’s adjustment to its ADIZ is “in a manner consistent with international practice and respect for the freedom of over-flight and other internationally lawful uses of international airspace.”

“The government [of the Republic of Korea] has conferred with the United States in advance of their decision, including in the meeting between Vice President Biden and President Park in Seoul on Dec. 6,” the U.S. Department of State said in a statement yesterday in response to Korea’s announcement.

China had been criticized for unilaterally declaring its demarcation of an East China Sea ADIZ that overlaps with areas claimed by Tokyo and Seoul without prior consultation with its neighbors.

Korea’s approach, with prior consultations, “avoids confusion for, or threats to, civilian airlines,” Washington said. Korea postponed an announcement of its expanded ADIZ to report its plans to U.S. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Friday during his three-day visit to Seoul.

Despite protests from Seoul, Tokyo and Washington, China has refused to retract its declaration. Major Korean and Japanese commercial carriers have been advised by the government since then not to report their flight plans to Chinese authorities before entering the airspace.

The Chinese and Japanese governments yesterday did not give an immediate official response to Korea’s announcement of its expanded ADIZ. However, China experts weighed in, saying that it is likely that Beijing will encourage dialogue to resolve the issue - a point China’s officials have emphasized since the declaration of the East China Sea ADIZ.

On Friday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said Korea’s expansion of its ADIZ should be in accordance “with international law and norms,” but said Beijing “is willing to maintain communications with South Korea on the basis of equality and mutual respect.”

Korea’s ADIZ was drawn up by the United States in March 1951. Its limit stopped south of Jeju Island, just short of incorporating other remote islands. Because the air defense zone was planned during the 1950-53 Korean War, its establishment was focused around the possibility of attacks from Chinese troops from the north.

BY SARAH KIM [sarahkim@joongang.co.kr]

[American Patriot]

This is getting interesting, no? LOL

My spot!
No, MINE!
MINE!

[Toad]

Pretty strong pissing match all over primarily hypothetical future ocean floor mineral rights. Having those rocks establishes mining rights.(And fishing rights) Interesting that they're carving up the air space to carve up the ground space.

[American Patriot]

Air superiority is what wins wars though, Toad.

Unless someone can gain higher ground - and only one country can do that effectively. That would be the US.

Unfortunately, we've seen major cuts in all out military, including space based platforms and other systems which would keep us on top.

Personally, I think this was a planned event - and the Asians are working out the final details of who gets what based on who shoots first and last now.

We won't even be in the mix pretty soon.

[vector7]

Navy Official: China Training for ‘Short Sharp War’ with Japan

By: USNI News Editor
Published: February 18, 2014 1:25 PM
Updated: February 20, 2014 9:55 AM


Chinese marines assault a beach during the Mission Action 2013 exercise. Xinhua Photo

China has long trained for an amphibious invasion of Taiwan during military exercises but has expanded its training to include a similar attack on Japanese holdings in the East China Sea, according the chief of intelligence of the U.S. Pacific Fleet (PACFLEET).

As part of China’s Mission Action 2013 exercise — a massive exercise between the all branches of China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) — the military trained for taking the Senkaku Islands, said Capt. James Fanell, deputy chief of staff intelligence and information operations for PACFLEET.


View China’s Training Plan in a larger map

“We witnessed the massive amphibious and cross military region enterprise — Mission Action 2013,” Fanell said at the West 2014 conference on Feb. 13 in San Diego, Calif.

“[We] concluded that the PLA has been given the new task to be able to conduct a short sharp war to destroy Japanese forces in the East China Sea following with what can only be expected a seizure of the Senkakus or even a southern Ryukyu [islands] — as some of their academics say.”

In the last year, China has increased the military activity has additionally increased provocative military actions in the South China Sea around the so-called Nine Dash Line — China’s expansive claim into the region in conflict with several other international claims.

“As a senior U.S. government official recently stated, there is growing concern that China’s pattern of behavior in the South China Sea reflects an incremental effort by China to assert control of the area contained in the so-called 9-dash line despite the objections of its neighbors, and despite the lack of any explanation or apparent basis under international law.” Fanell said.

He then detailed a series of what he called aggressive actions taken by China against its neighbors over the past year. Some of those actions, including combat drills in the south Philippine Sea were described as China’s “protection of maritime rights.”

“By the way, protection of maritime rights is a Chinese euphemism for coerce seizure of coastal rights of China’s neighbors,” Fanell said.

“The next week (the week after the combat drill in the south Philippine Sea) in the East China Sea, Japan said that a Chinese warship locked its fire-controlled radar onto a Japanese warship. China denied it for a month, but then admitted that it occurred, but said that it was not in danger since the range between the two ships was too close for a weapons system,” he said.

“Seriously, you just can’t make this stuff up.”

Fanell also called out quasi-military actions by the newly created Chinese Coast Guard which unified five mostly civil maritime services.


Chinese Coast Guard vessel

“Tensions in the South and East China Seas have deteriorated with the Chinese Coast Guard playing the role of antagonist, harassing China’s neighbors while PLA Navy ships, their protectors, (make) port calls throughout the region promising friendship and cooperation.”

Fanell noted the nation has allocated $1.6 million on improvements to disputed South China Sea outposts. Developing ports, air fields, water purification and surveillance systems. “Meanwhile, China describes efforts by other nations to improve the navigability of their outposts as egregious provocations and responded with threats.”

Fanell’s assessment of the Chinese lies seemingly in contrast to American efforts to forge close military-to-military ties with the country.

On the same panel the Navy’s head of operations, plans and strategy, Rear Adm. James Foggo described a successful meeting between U.S. Navy officials and the head of the PLAN, Adm. Wu Shengli. The U.S. delegation toured PLAN ships and submarines. However, shortly after they left, the Chinese declared the controversial Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) over a large swath over the East China Sea in November.

The U.S. is also continuing to work out plans for the Chinese navy to participate in the Rim of the Pacific 2014 (RIMPAC) exercise later this year.

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China calls for alert on Japanese political move

English.news.cn | 2014-02-20 20:32:07 | Editor: An[/TD]

BEIJING, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- China on Thursday called on neighboring countries of Japan and the international community to be on high alert after Japanese politicians backed their prime minister's visit to the Yasukuni Shrine.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying made the appeal at a daily press briefing when commenting on Japanese politicians' words which ignored Japan's history of aggression.

Etsuro Honda, economic policy advisor to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, on Wednesday reportedly praised Abe's courage to visit the war-linked shrine on Dec. 26. Japanese Vice Prime Minister Taro Aso also said the controversial visit was a matter of course.

"Turning blind eyes to the just appeal of the international community, Japanese politicians voiced such ridiculous remarks. It again showcased that they totally have no intention to reflect on the Japanese history of aggression," Hua said.

"They even thought that Japan's international status cannot be lifted unless the post-war international order is changed. What sort of logic is that and what kind of information do they want to release?" Hua asked.

She said the Japanese politicians' explanations can only help people learn about the real intention and essence of Abe's visit to the shrine, which honors 14 World War II class-A war criminals.

"Asian neighbors (of Japan) and the international community have reason to maintain high alert on political move in Japan," Hua said.