U.S. criticizes new China zone, vows to defend Japan

[Unkotare]

My point is about American expansionism..

Then you have no point.

 

[Vikrant]

China has one aircraft carrier; how many does america have?
China has invaded and taken over Tibet; how many countries has America invaded since 1945?
China has no battle fleets near America at the moment and has never flown over lands claimed by America since it attacked American occupied Hawaii.
How many countries has America bombed/invaded/removed governments in since 1945?

I think you may have this the wrong way around.
America has murdered by the million since WWII, all as part of its expansionist policy.

Nothing that the US has done comes even close to what China has done in Tibet. You have to be a blind person to state otherwise. If China had the kind of military and economy the US has, the whole world would be in deep trouble.

And idiots like freddy there wouldn't realize it until it was too late.

He just lacks perspective. He is comparing US wars against colonial powers like Spain to Chinese genocide in Tibet. US presence in Philippines was not a unilateral decision of the US government. It was a mutual agreement and the US got out as soon as Philippine government asked to. Look at what happened after the US left. China started strong arming Philippines. I have posted quite a bit about it at the height of China - Philippine confrontation in Asia thread. Guess who Philippine turned to for help? The United States.

It was a very unwise decision for the Philippines to close US bases on their soil. I wanted to add one more thing: The United States and Japan were on the forefront of helping Philippines during recent typhoon crisis not China.

 

[Unkotare]

Nothing that the US has done comes even close to what China has done in Tibet. You have to be a blind person to state otherwise. If China had the kind of military and economy the US has, the whole world would be in deep trouble.

And idiots like freddy there wouldn't realize it until it was too late.

He just lacks perspective. He is comparing US wars against colonial powers like Spain to Chinese genocide in Tibet. US presence in Philippines was not a unilateral decision of the US government. It was a mutual agreement and the US got out as soon as Philippine government asked to. Look at what happened after the US left. China started strong arming Philippines. I have posted quite a bit about it at the height of China - Philippine confrontation in Asia thread. Guess who Philippine turned to for help? The United States.

It was a very unwise decision for the Philippines to close US bases on their soil. I wanted to add one more thing: The United States and Japan were on the forefront of helping Philippines during recent typhoon crisis not China.

Excellent points all.

 

[Vikrant]

OSAKA – When U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrives in Japan on Monday to start a three-nation tour that will also take him to South Korea and China, his most urgent task will be to assure Prime Minister Shinzo Abe that the U.S. stands firmly against China’s new air defense identification zone, which encompasses the Senkaku Islands, even as he prods Tokyo to help ease tensions with Beijing.

It’s an important visit for the longer term as well. Biden faces the further challenge of convincing Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing that the Obama administration’s touted pivot to Asia won’t fail due to budget constraints in Washington that will likely impact the U.S. military presence in the region or to growing skepticism in Congress regarding the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement.

Though previous U.S. administrations emphasized Asia, the idea of a U.S. pivot, shift or rebalance dates back to autumn 2011, when the Obama administration announced that as wars in Afghanistan and Iraq wind down, U.S. military assets would be relocated to the Asia-Pacific region. In August 2012, Ashton Carter, deputy secretary of defense, offered specific examples of what a rebalance would look like.

“We intend to have 60 percent of our naval assets based in the Pacific by 2020. We will have a net increase of one aircraft carrier, four destroyers, three Zumwalt destroyers, 10 littoral combat ships and two submarines in the Pacific in the coming years,” Carter said.

In addition, B-1 bombers and reconnaissance planes, manned and unmanned, would be relocated to the Pacific. But amid speculation of a reduction in the number of army personnel or major shifts around Asia of marines in the coming years, Carter said only that the army in South Korea would be protected from budget changes and that there would be no reduction in the Marine Corps’ presence west of the international date line.

That was the plan. But with the passage of the Budget Control Act in 2011, the Pentagon must cut a total of $500 billion over a 10-year period, unless Congress can reach a deal that reverses some of the planned military reductions.

Congress has until the end of this month to reach agreement on stopping the latest round of defense cuts — worth $19 billion — that are set to start in January. Under the 2011 act, the size of budget cuts is expected to rise substantially from about 2015 onward.

In August, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said that in the worst-case scenario the army would be reduced by 380,000 troops and the marines from just under 200,000 to 150,000. Pentagon officials admit that it would be very challenging to maintain current Asia rebalancing plans in that case.

Administration officials from President Barack Obama on downhave rushed to reassure Asian allies, including Japan and South Korea, that the budget problems in Washington will not affect America’s military commitment to the region. Biden will likely make similar noises to Abe on Monday.

The other part of the U.S. rebalance to Asia is the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement. On Dec. 7, trade ministers from the 12 nations involved in the TPP negotiations will meet in Singapore, where they hope to finalize an agreement. Biden and Abe are expected to discuss the TPP in some detail.

Obama wants the negotiations concluded by the end of this year. He is pushing for Congress to give his administration fast-track negotiation authority, meaning it would not be able to amend or filibuster any agreement brought to it for approval.

But over the past six months, opposition to the TPP has grown in the U.S., and clashes with Congress over the budget forced Obama to cancel a trip to Asia in October, where he had hoped to personally push leaders to conclude the TPP negotiations.

Then, in mid-November, 151 congressional Democrats and 25 Republicans told the Obama administration they were opposed to granting fast-track authority.

“While your administration’s goal was to sign a TPP free trade agreement at the October Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, we believe that to date the process has failed to provide adequate consultation with Congress. Twentieth-century ‘fast track’ is simply not appropriate for 21st-century agreements and must be replaced. The U.S. cannot afford another trade agreement that replicates the mistakes of the past,” the House Democrats said in a letter to the president.

Both parties and houses of Congress are growing skeptical in particular of the TPP’s ability to prevent currency manipulation. Some 230 members of the House and 60 members of the Senate are demanding that the TPP provide measures to counter such manipulation. But there was no discussion of that issue at recently concluded talks in Salt Lake City. TPP opponents noted that this was just one of numerous issues left unresolved.

“Controversy is growing in many TPP nations about demanded trade-offs relating to medicine prices, Internet freedom, financial regulation and other sensitive matters,” said Lori Wallach, director of the Washington-based Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch, following the Salt Lake City talks.

Biden and Abe may comment on the next round of TPP negotiations in Singapore starting on Dec. 7. But since the vice president’s schedule will likely be dominated by defusing the crisis and increasing regional cooperation to prevent conflict, the timing of his trip to East Asia is particularly relevant.

However, he will not visit Taiwan, which has a huge stake in the ADIZ controversy. Misato Matsuoka, a doctoral researcher in political science and international studies at the University of Warwick, said it was unlikely Japan would want to discuss what Taiwan’s role might be in the latest clash over the Senkakus, at least not directly.

“While China has been expanding its ADIZ, it seems to be difficult for Abe’s government to suggest new initiatives to cooperate with Taiwan, due to Taiwan’s delicate position among China, the U.S. and Japan. But there is a possibility to propose a bilateral air transport agreement, for instance,” she said.

Ultimately, however, the future U.S. role in Asia, particularly East Asia, rests on convincing the region that Washington is not going to reduce its presence and can still provide leadership in the face of a growing China.

With Congress demanding budget cuts and midterm elections in November, the Obama administration will have its hands full domestically in 2014.

Biden, who is considered exceptionally well-versed in Asia, has his work cut out for him in convincing leaders in the region that the administration will not get distracted with domestic politics and back up with action its rhetoric about an Asian rebalance.

China's new air zone at top of agenda for Biden's visit to Tokyo | The Japan Times

 

[Indofred]

My point is about American expansionism..

Then you have no point.

Then explain the number and spread of U.S. bases around the world and compare them to the Chinese bases outside China.

If America isn't expanding its influence around the world, what else are these bases for?

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

GENEVA – The United States said Saturday it was “deeply concerned” and committed to defending Japan after China announced an air zone in the East China Sea that includes disputed islets.

In a move that U.S. ally Japan branded as “very dangerous,” China said it was setting up the “air defense identification zone” over the islands administered by Tokyo to “guard against potential air threats.”

In similar statements, Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said that the United States was “deeply concerned” about the moves by China, which also scrambled air force jets to carry out a patrol mission in the newly declared zone.

“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,” the top U.S. diplomat said from Geneva, where he was taking part in talks on reaching an agreement with Iran on its nuclear program.

Kerry said that the United States has urged China to “exercise caution and restraint,” and warned Beijing against implementing its new zone.

“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.

Hagel reiterated that the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands — which the Chinese claim and call the Diaoyu — fell under the U.S.-Japan security treaty, meaning that Washington would defend its ally Tokyo if the area is attacked.

“We are in close consultation with our allies and partners in the region, including Japan. We remain steadfast in our commitments to our allies and partners,” Hagel said.

The defense chief made clear that the United States, which stations more than 70,000 troops in Japan and South Korea, would not respect China’s declaration of control over the zone.

“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.

The outline of the zone, which is shown on the Chinese defense ministry website and a state media Twitter account (pic.twitter.com/4a2vC6PH8O), covers a wide area of the East China Sea between South Korea and Taiwan that includes airspace above the disputed islets.

Japan last year nationalized some of the islets and has vowed not to cede sovereignty or even to acknowledge a dispute with China, accusing its growing neighbor of trying to change the status quo through intimidation.

China and Taiwan both claim the islets, which are near potentially energy-rich waters.

The United States says that it has no position on the islets’ ultimate sovereignty but believes that they are currently under Japanese administration.

“Freedom of overflight and other internationally lawful uses of sea and airspace are essential to prosperity, stability and security in the Pacific,” Kerry said.

He called for a “more collaborative and less confrontational future in the Pacific.”

The United States, for its part, does not ask foreign aircraft to identify themselves if they are not intending to enter U.S. airspace.

U.S. President Barack Obama has pledged a greater focus on Asia in light of China’s rise and plans to shift the majority of U.S. warships to the Asia-Pacific region by 2020.

Obama plans to visit Asia, reportedly including Japan, in April. Kerry, who has invested much of his time on the Middle East, will travel to Asia in the coming weeks.

U.S. criticizes new China zone, vows to defend Japan | The Japan Times

I believe China wants to take Taiwan. These are just the first moves leading up to it. That is what is looks like to me. - Jeri

 

[Indofred]

America is out of step on this one, as with so many others.
We're slowing seeing other countries reject American attempts to create a new enemy so your war suppliers can make even greater profits on the bodies of the dead.

BBC News - David Cameron promises China 'growth partnership'
Britain, as with so many other countries, is moving away from American influence.

 

[Vikrant]

My point is about American expansionism..

Then you have no point.

Then explain the number and spread of U.S. bases around the world and compare them to the Chinese bases outside China.

If America isn't expanding its influence around the world, what else are these bases for?

Having a military base in a country does not make you the occupier of the country. This falls under the defense pact and is usually mutually beneficial to the countries involved. America has more bases around the world than China because more countries trust America than China. There is a perfectly good reason behind the trust deficit China experiences.

 

[Vikrant]

Joe Biden holds 'very direct' talks with Chinese leadership on disputed air zone

Joe Biden holds 'very direct' talks with Chinese leadership on disputed air zone | World news | theguardian.com

 

[Vikrant]

BEIJING – Giving no ground, Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden traded strong arguments Wednesday over China’s contentious new air defense zone, with no indication of progress toward defusing a situation that is raising anxieties across Asia and beyond.

Though Biden made clear the deep concern of the U.S. and other countries during the 5½ hours of talks — themselves highly unusual for an American vice president and Chinese president — Xi vigorously made his case, too, for China’s declaration of new rules concerning a strip of airspace more than 950 km long above disputed islands in the East China Sea.

The U.S. worries that China’s demand that pilots entering the airspace file flight plans with Beijing could lead to an accident or a confrontation spiraling dangerously out of control. Now it is up to the Chinese to take steps to lower tensions, and “it’s a question of behavior and action,” said a U.S. official, who briefed reporters on the private talks.

The official was not authorized to be quoted by name and spoke only on condition of anonymity.

Though Biden expressed no disappointment in public remarks, the outcome of his visit was not what the U.S. might have hoped for.

A day earlier, the vice president had stood shoulder to shoulder in Tokyo with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, pledging to raise Washington’s concerns with Xi directly. But as he arrived in Beijing, an editorial in the state-run China Daily charged Washington with “turning a blind eye to Tokyo’s provocations,” warning that Biden would hit a dead end should he come “simply to repeat his government’s previous erroneous and one-sided remarks.”

Late Wednesday in Washington, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel called China’s announcement of the zone “destabilizing” and complained that it had come “so unilaterally and so immediately without any consultation.”

“That’s not a wise course of action to take for any country,” Hagel said at a Pentagon news conference.

Neither Biden nor Xi mentioned the dispute as they appeared briefly before reporters at the end of their first round of talks. But in private, the issue came up at length at the beginning and again near the end of the long-planned meeting, senior Obama administration officials said.

The typically upbeat Biden appeared subdued as he reflected on the complexity of the relationship between China and the U.S., two world powers seeking closer ties despite wide ideological gulfs they have as of yet been unable to bridge.

“This new model of major-country cooperation ultimately has to be based on trust, and a positive notion about the motive of one another,” Biden said, flanked by top advisers in a resplendent meeting room steps away from Tiananmen Square.

The calibrated public comments played down the deep strains permeating the relationship between the world’s two largest economies.

Earlier, however, Biden told Chinese youngsters waiting to get visitor visas processed at the U.S. Embassy that American children are rewarded rather than punished for challenging the status quo, an implicit criticism of the Chinese government’s authoritarian rule.

“I hope you learn that innovation can only occur where you can breathe free, challenge the government, challenge religious leaders.” Biden said.

Xi, for his part, stuck to the script — at least in public. The Chinese leader touted the benefits of closer U.S.-China ties as he laid out “profound and complex changes” under way in Asia and across the globe.

“The world, as a whole, is not tranquil,” Xi said.

Behind closed doors, Xi made his own case for why China’s action to establish the air zone is appropriate, said the U.S. administration officials, who weren’t authorized to comment by name and demanded anonymity. Xi listened earnestly as Biden presented his own arguments, the officials said, but it was unclear what impact there might have been.

The simmering dispute over the tiny islands and the airspace above them has trailed Biden throughout his weeklong trip to Asia. After meeting with China’s premier and speaking to business leaders Thursday, he will fly to Seoul in South Korea — another neighbor whose air defense zone now overlaps with China’s.

American officials say as far as Washington is concerned China’s newly claimed zone doesn’t exist, and the U.S. military has flown B-52 bombers through it to drive the point home. But U.S guidance to commercial pilots to abide by the airspace rules has rankled Japan and other allies, who urged the U.S. to stand firm against China as Biden headed to the region.

The Obama administration sees China’s move as part of a broader strategy to solidify its claims to territory as the country asserts its power more vigorously in the region. Wary that nationalist sentiments in China may preclude Xi from backing down now that he’s established the zone, Washington has sought to persuade Beijing to quietly refrain from enforcing it, nullifying it in practice if not in deed.

“Xi has no room on this, at least right now,” said Victor Cha, who headed Asian affairs for the White House National Security Council in the George W. Bush administration. “Maybe the space will come later in terms of enforcement of the zone, but now they are butting heads on the issue, and the Chinese see us as carrying too much of Japan’s water.”

The U.S. has also urged China not to implement new zones over other disputed territories, as China has already claimed it has the right to do. Defending such actions, Chinese officials point out that other countries including Japan and the U.S. have similar defense zones over their lands.

Japan and China both claim the islands in the East China Sea. The U.S. takes no position but recognizes that Japan administers them. China is entangled in other disputes as well, including a long-running argument with the Philippines over islands in the South China Sea.

Tensions between the U.S. and China were temporarily glossed over earlier when Biden arrived here for an elaborate welcoming ceremony in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People. Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao greeted his American counterpart with an elaborate honor guard and a military band that played the two countries’ national anthems, as Biden and Xi stood together on a platform above the massive hall’s marble floors and crisscrossing red carpets.

China gives no ground to Biden in air zone dispute | The Japan Times

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

China To Engage In 'Six Inevitable Wars' Involving U.S., Japan, India And More, According To Pro-Government Chinese Newspaper


China's announcement last weekend of an Air Defense Identification Zone, which includes disputed areas of the East China Sea, has ratcheted up tensions between China and her neighbors, leading some to believe war is imminent.

The new air defense area includes the airspace above the hotly disputed cluster of tiny islands known as the Diaoyu to China and the Senkaku to the Japanese. International reaction to the ADIZ, particularly from Japan and its ally the U.S., has been uniformly defiant. In addition to official statements from Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel, Reuters reported Tuesday that two U.S. military aircraft have flown around the disputed islands in direct defiance of China’s ADIZ.

“We have conducted operations in the area of the Senkakus,” spokesman Col. Steve Warren said, using the Japanese name for the islands. In addition to declaring the zone’s wide boundaries, Chinese military forces announced that all air travel in the designated ADIZ must be reported to avoid “emergency defensive measures in response.” The U.S. did the flyover without addressing the demands made by China. “We have continued to follow our normal procedures, which include not filing flight plans, not radioing ahead and not registering our frequencies,” Warren continued.

The new ADIZ has brought added tension to one of China’s several current territorial disputes. As pointed out in Shanghai-based news-blog, The Shanghaiist.com, earlier this summer, a particularly strident pro-government local newspaper, Weweipo, published a war-mongering article describing the “Six Wars China Is Sure to Fight In the Next 50 Years.” The article essentially predicts that most of China’s current border disputes will eventually lead to war.

China To Engage In 'Six Inevitable Wars' Involving U.S., Japan, India And More, According To Pro-Government Chinese Newspaper

When China makes her move for Taiwan I believe that America will go to war. I think that is coming.

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

Thank you for the updates on this, Vikrant. This is a very important news story.

 

[Vikrant]

Thank you for the updates on this, Vikrant. This is a very important news story.

You are welcome. This is a crucial global event.

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

Thank you for the updates on this, Vikrant. This is a very important news story.

You are welcome. This is a crucial global event.

That is so true and I don't believe Americans believe it is possible but I do believe the Romanian, Duduman , who said when China makes her move for Taiwan America will retaliate against the Chinese and then? Then Russia will attack us on our own soil. That is how close we are now to all out war. China isn't doing all these war exercises for nothing. Chinese troop build up inside Mexico isn't happening by a fluke. I watched a live leaks video early this morning of a Mexican cartel leader out in the woods with his soldiers making a video for his local media pleading with them to explain what all the chinese troops and chinese mafioso are doing inside Mexico right now. The cartels are in fear it is all out war against them. They do not know yet that these Chinese troops are waiting to come across the Mexican - US border to invade the United States. They will soon enough. So will everyone else. When it is too late.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f2a_1386280548

Have a look at the video for yourself - they give the translation in English.

Last part of vid has been cut - that wasn't cut last night. Still he does tell about them being invaded by foreigner Chinese and Chinese Mafioso you can read it on the video translation.. you can tell he thinks these chinese troops are there to take out their cartels - they probably are not being told as the Mexicans have families here in America working and sending back money. They would probably go to war & drive them out now if they knew the Chinese are coming to slaughter indiscriminately once they cross that border. This is chess 101. They are going to come in from all sides. (the russians are already here inside our borders waiting)

 

[Indofred]

I think Taiwan has the strongest claim.

 

[Indofred]

When China makes her move for Taiwan I believe that America will go to war. I think that is coming.

Very foolish post.
Any war may well turn nuclear and that, for the simple minded, means massive destruction in China and America.

Many major Chinese cities would be destroyed but you can wave bye bye to Washington and New York as well.

 

[Vikrant]

WASHINGTON – The United States has urged China to set up an emergency hotline with Japan and South Korea to avoid confusion in Beijing’s newly declared air defense zone.

Washington does not recognize Beijing’s air defense identification zone, which extends over the East China Sea and the Japan-held Senkaku Islands, and has called on China to get rid of it. Amid heightened tensions over the Senkakus, whose ownership is contested by China, the U.S. proposed the hotline’s creation Friday.

“As we work through this process, they (China) need to do a few things right now to immediately lower tensions,” deputy U.S. State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said.

“China should work with other countries, including Japan and South Korea, to establish confidence-building measures, including emergency communications channels to address the dangers that its recent announcement has created,” she said.

The United States has said that its military aircraft will ignore China’s demands that flight plans be filed when passing through the ADIZ. But Washington has urged commercial airlines to stick by Federal Aviation Administration guidelines to stay safe.

Harf said one of the potential dangers is that because the ADIZ overlaps airspace administered by other countries, China has “created a situation in which two different authorities claim to give orders to civilian aircraft, which could potentially create confusion.”

It “creates a destabilizing dynamic, which could compel China’s neighbors to take further actions to respond,” she said.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said during a visit to Beijing on Thursday that regional peace and stability are in China’s interests.

“As China’s economy grows, its stake in regional peace and stability will continue to grow as well, because it has so much more to lose,” he said. “That’s why China will bear increasing responsibility to contribute positively to peace and security.”

Harf said that while there is no treaty governing how nations create such air zones, “there are established practices of states to ensure the safety of civil and state aircraft.” As a regional power, she said, China must seek “to reduce the risk of accidental conflict and miscalculation, to not do things that raise tensions in the region, to act responsibly."

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/20...ine-to-defuse-air-zone-tensions/#.UqQKivRDu5O

 

[SayMyName]

It will all peeter out to much ado about nothing soon enough. The US mastered saber rattling a long time ago, but not the meeting of objectives by creep, which the Chinese are very good at.

The Chinese will stay, and wait us out. They have a great amount of patience, and the holding of much of the American debt, which finances the US war machine.

It would be interesting to note just how far such an Air Defense zone extends for what the US sees as its territory. Half the world, perhaps?

In the aftermath of losing 20 million people to the Japanese during the occupation of their country during WW2, I don't feel very sorry for Tokyo. Besides, its Asia, and that is China's back yard. I don't think we would take very kindly ourselves if a major power was meddling in Mexico. Goodness, we nearly went to nuclear war with the Soviets at one point for simply being in Cuba.

In truth, we already know the obvious. The United States would only take on China militarily off their shores if our leaders had completely lost their minds. We can't even finish a war with a second and third world group like the Iraqis and Taliban without years of struggle and what looks like a draw. What makes us think we could really ever take on a power that has the resources and growing technological savvy that they have. Aren't they now even producing massive numbers of copies of our Tomahawk type cruise missiles far in excess to what we are?


Just asking men.

 

[Vikrant]

There have been numerous discussions over why China announced its ADIZ at this moment. Some view it as a an institutional justification for China’s so-called righteous behaviors near its shore, while some regard it as an unnecessary challenge to the current regional order which has been dominated by the U.S.-Japan alliance. Despite the mainly negative and critical responses from its neighbors and particularly from Japan, China does not want to hide its confidence and even assertiveness on this matter. Beijing will probably establish ADIZ in the Yellow and South China Seas in the near future.

One of the main implications of China’s move is that it has been taking every chance to change its role from that of a humble and obedient follower of U.S.-dominated regional and international orders, to that of a new player in the current multiple rule-making processes. Aiming to be a rule-maker, China has become substantially involved in the multinational anti-piracy efforts in the Gulf of Aden and has also raised its voice in world climate dialogues. Actually, China has been sending out even stronger and clearer messages.

“If the rules are made by the international community through agreement and China is part of it, China will definitely abide by them, but if the rules are decided by one or several countries, China does not have the obligation to observe them,” Pang Sen, deputy head of Department of International Organizations and Conferences of the Chinese Foreign Ministry, told the press at the end of the APEC economic leaders’ meeting in Honolulu in November 2011. The East China Sea ADIZ is a carefully planned attempt for China to make the rules at its own doorstep, which are supported by China’s ever-growing economic and military power. If China succeeds or at least avoids starting an uncontrollable escalation of regional confrontation, Beijing will become more confident. More cases will follow as China goes further in setting up its own rules.

However, China is also running the risk of unifying regional powers– like the U.S., Japan, and probably South Korea– against it. Seoul has expressed significant concern and opposition to China’s recent ADIZ, which unilaterally included a submerged rock claimed by both China and South Korea (for more on this, see Ankit Panda’s article).

The U.S. does not maintain as strong of a U.S.-led alliance system in Southeast Asia as it does with its East Asian allies. As a result, China has been relatively successful in practicing a strategy of “divide and conquer” to manage the South China Sea disputes. The East China Sea dispute is different: the U.S. has repeatedly reaffirmed its obligation to protect Japan’s administrative, jurisdictive, and legislative rights to the disputed islands. By flying B-52 bombers into China’s ADIZ, the U.S. made its message crystal clear.

The risk is weighing upon all the directly or indirectly involved parties. For example, South Korean policymakers might feel like they are sitting on pins and needles, even though Seoul in only indirectly involved in this. However, neither Beijing nor Tokyo or Washington are seeking a military confrontation. Regional military conflict on the East China Sea will undoubtedly be a total disaster for not only East Asia but also the whole world, given East Asian countries’ important roles in the world economy. Hence, all parties, more or less, are playing a game of pride and “face.” Still, all parties are prepared for possible miscalculation and the resulting escalation.

The current situation is very serious but it is not yet a game of chicken. When U.S. Vice President Biden’s ignored some in Japan’s calls for a joint announcement on the ADIZ, it demonstrated that the U.S. is committed to leaving some maneuvering space for all parties in handling the current situation. Chinese ancient strategist Sun Tzu told us that “when you surround an army, leave an outlet free” (in Chinese, 围师必&#38425. This might provide a ray of hope for creating and maintaining peace on East China Sea: leaving an outlet would allow all involved parties a chance to deescalate. Beijing, Tokyo, and Washington should take care not to pass the point of no return.

With ADIZ, China Emerges As Regional Rule-Maker | The Diplomat

 

[Indofred]

I'm informed, South Korea has just extended its zone.
Will posters be condemning them as well?