China Projecting Power in South and East China Seas

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"Japan invests in new military kit as China row simmers"
by Shingo Ito

Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/japan-boost-military-spending-china-row-simmers-023116733.html

Tokyo (AFP) - Japan announced Tuesday it will buy stealth fighters, drones and submarines as part of a splurge on military hardware that will beef up defence of far-flung islands amid a simmering territorial row with China.

The cabinet of hawkish Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed to spend 24.7 trillion yen ($240 billion) between 2014 and 2019 in a strategic shift towards the south and west of the country -- a five percent boost to the military budget over five years.

The shopping list is part of efforts by Abe to normalise the military in Japan, which has been officially pacifist since defeat in World War II. Its well-equipped and highly professional services are limited to a narrowly defined self-defensive role.

It comes with the establishment of a US-style National Security Council that is expected to concentrate greater power in the hands of a smaller number of senior politicians and bureaucrats.

Fears are growing in Japan over the rising power of China, with the two countries embroiled in a dispute over the sovereignty of a group of islands in the East China Sea, and the perennial menace posed by an unpredictable North Korea.

New guidelines approved by the cabinet on Tuesday said Tokyo will introduce a "dynamic joint defence force", intended to help air, land and sea forces work together more effectively.

Abe said the shift would allow Japan's military to better shoulder its responsibilities on the global stage, through what he has promoted as "proactive pacifism".

"We hope to make further contributions to the peace and stability of the international community through proactive pacifism," he said. "This shows with transparency our country's diplomatic and defence policies."

Spending will be raised to 24.7 trillion yen over five years from April 2014, up from the present 23.5 trillion yen over the five years to March 2014, but the figure could be trimmed by up to 700 billion yen if the defence ministry can find savings and efficiencies.

New hardware will include three drones, 52 amphibious vehicles, 17 Osprey hybrid choppers and five submarines -- all designed to boost maritime surveillance and bolster defence of islands.

The spending will also encompass two destroyers equipped with the Aegis anti-missile system and 28 new F-35 fighter jets, a stealth plane far superior to the F-15s that Japan currently has in service.

Analysts noted that much of this kit will replace obsolete equipment, but the shift in military priorities is evident.

"The guidelines underscore a clear shift of Japan's major defence focus to the protection of its islands in the East China Sea," said Hideshi Takesada, an expert on regional security at Takushoku University in Tokyo.

During the Cold War, Japan's military was largely static, with the majority of resources in the north and east to guard against any invasion by Russia.

But changing dynamics and in particular the rise of China -- where double-digit rises in defence spending are the annual norm -- mean that Japan's armed forces need to be located further south and to be able to deploy to the country's many far-flung islands.

"The guidelines show Japan's readiness for practical defence if China's bluff turns to be real military action," Takesada said.

Regional tensions were ratcheted up last month when China abruptly declared a new Air Defence Identification Zone over the East China Sea, including over disputed Tokyo-controlled islands called Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese.

Abe on Saturday denounced the declaration and demanded Beijing retract it immediately and unconditionally, after a summit with Southeast Asian leaders where a joint statement called for freedom of travel on the seas and in the air.

Beijing issued a sharp rebuke, singling out Abe for "slanderous remarks".

The guidelines also call for Japan to boost its missile defence system to counter "a grave and imminent threat" from North Korea.

Pyongyang conducted its third nuclear test in February, following a rocket test in December 2012.

The recent purging and execution of the uncle of leader Kim Jong-Un further set nerves on edge, with analysts warning the isolated nation had become even more unpredictable as it marks the second anniversary of the death of Kim's father.
 

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Triton said:
How close can foreign ships get to a Carrier Strike Group in international waters?


HMS Ark Royal ran over a Soviet destroyer that was playing chicken with her while she was launching aircraft in 1970. Two dead Russians for their troubles.
 
"China confirms near miss with U.S. ship in South China Sea"
By Sui-Lee Wee

Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/china-confirms-near-miss-u-ship-south-china-030206620.html

BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Wednesday confirmed an incident between a Chinese naval vessel and a U.S. warship in the South China Sea, after Washington said a U.S. guided missile cruiser had avoided a collision with a Chinese warship maneuvering nearby.

Experts have said the near-miss between the USS Cowpens and a Chinese warship operating near China's only aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, was the most significant U.S.-China maritime incident in the disputed South China Sea since 2009.

China's Defense Ministry said the Chinese naval vessel was conducting "normal patrols" when the two vessels "met".

"During the encounter, the Chinese naval vessel properly handled it in accordance with strict protocol," the ministry said on its website (www.mod.gov.cn).

"The two Defense departments were kept informed of the relevant situation through normal working channels and carried out effective communication."

But China's official news agency Xinhua, in an English language commentary, accused the U.S. ship of deliberately provocative behavior.

"On December 5, U.S. missile cruiser Cowpens, despite warnings from China's aircraft carrier task group, broke into the Chinese navy's drilling waters in the South China Sea, and almost collided with a Chinese warship nearby," it said.

"Even before the navy training, Chinese maritime authorities have posted a navigation notice on their website, and the U.S. warship, which should have had knowledge of what the Chinese were doing there, intentionally carried on with its surveillance of China's Liaoning aircraft carrier and triggered the confrontation."

Washington said last week its ship was forced to take evasive action to avoid a collision.

The incident came at a time of heightened tension in the region following Beijing's declaration of an air Defense identification zone further north in the East China Sea, which prompted protests from Washington, Tokyo and Seoul.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Tuesday said maritime disputes between countries should be resolved peacefully through arbitration though the United States would speak out when a country, such as China, took unilateral action that raised the potential for conflict.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Kerry and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has been equally critical of the air Defense zone, should stop harping on the issue.

"The show the relevant parties have put on is enough. They should give it a rest. If they really care about this region's peace, they should ... stop fomenting trouble," she told a daily news briefing.

China's Defense Ministry said, however, there were "good opportunities" for developing Sino-U.S. military ties.

"Both sides are willing to strengthen communication, maintain close coordination and make efforts to maintain regional peace and stability," the ministry said.

The Liaoning aircraft carrier, which has yet to be fully armed and is being used as a training vessel, was flanked by escort ships, including two destroyers and two frigates, during its first deployment into the South China Sea.

Friction over the South China Sea has surged as China uses its growing naval might to assert a vast claim over the oil-and-gas-rich area, raising fears of a clash between it and other countries in the region, including the Philippines and Vietnam.

The United States had raised the incident at a "high level" with China, according to a State Department official quoted by the U.S. military's Stars and Stripes newspaper.

Beijing routinely objects to U.S. military surveillance operations within its exclusive economic zone, while Washington insists the United States and other nations have the right to conduct routine operations in international waters.

China deployed the Liaoning to the South China Sea just days after announcing its air Defense zone, which covers air space over a group of tiny uninhabited islands in the East China Sea that are administered by Japan but claimed by Beijing as well.

(Additional reporting by Hui Li and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
 
"US warship threatened China's security: state media"

Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/us-warship-threatened-china-39-security-state-media-093454203.html

Beijing (AFP) - A US warship that was forced to manoeuvre to avoid a collision with a Chinese naval vessel had "posed a threat", state-run media said Monday, after Washington accused China of being the aggressor.

The Global Times newspaper, which often takes a nationalistic stance, said the USS Cowpens guided missile cruiser had "come to China's threshold and posed a threat to China's military security".

Washington issued a formal protest after the incident in the South China Sea between the Cowpens and a Chinese navy vessel on December 5, insisting that the ships were in international waters.

Beijing claims almost the whole of the South China Sea, even areas close to the coasts of other littoral states.

"If the American navy and air force always encroach near China's doorstep, 'confrontation' is bound to take place," the Global Times said. "As China's strength grows, the US should learn to communicate with and respect China if it doesn't want a collision on the sea or in the air."

The stand-off underscored tensions that escalated after Beijing last month declared an expanded "air defence identification zone" in the East China Sea.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying referred questions on the incident to China's defence ministry.

But she added: "I can tell you in principle that China respects the freedom of navigation and overflight that is in accordance with international laws."

The near-miss at sea is the most significant maritime incident between the US and China since 2009, when five Chinese ships surrounded and harassed a US Navy surveillance ship in the same waters.

US naval officers and defence officials said last week that the Chinese ship had crossed directly in front of the Cowpens and halted less than 500 metres away, forcing the American ship to take evasive action to avoid a collision.

The Global Times quoted an anonymous Chinese military expert as saying the US "was tailing after and harassing" China's Liaoning aircraft carrier which was conducting drills in the area, and that the USS Cowpens had come within 45 kilometres of the "inner defence layer of the Chinese fleet".

"Bad guys always claim innocence first," the source told the paper, adding that the US warship "took offensive actions at first towards the Liaoning formation on the day of the confrontation".

Su Hao, a professor of Asia-Pacific studies at China Foreign Affairs University, defended the Chinese vessel's actions, saying they were necessary to protect Beijing's maritime rights.

"The Chinese took action only after the US vessels refused to comply with warnings," he told the China Daily newspaper.
 
China needs to be smacked down before they start outright grabbing territory.
 
Grey Havoc said:
NilsD said:
China needs to be smacked down before they start outright grabbing territory.

It may be too late for that.

It's never too late. But nobody is going to do anything to stop them. I suspect anything in the South China Sea will be their's for the taking. (As the latest incident with the Cowpens demonstrates, the US certainly isn't going to do anything to stop China.)
 
Grey Havoc said:
NilsD said:
China needs to be smacked down before they start outright grabbing territory.

It may be too late for that.

Walmart_US.jpg
 
sferrin said:
Grey Havoc said:
NilsD said:
China needs to be smacked down before they start outright grabbing territory.

It may be too late for that.

It's never too late. But nobody is going to do anything to stop them. I suspect anything in the South China Sea will be their's for the taking. (As the latest incident with the Cowpens demonstrates, the US certainly isn't going to do anything to stop China.)

Ah, for the days when we used to dump jet fuel on "fishing trawlers".
 
Triton said:
How about the sale of the Lockheed Martin F-35B to the Republic of China (Taiwan) Air Force?

What are you talking about? We aren't selling them any. (Nor would we EVER want to.)
 
sferrin said:
What are you talking about? We aren't selling them any. (Nor would we EVER want to.)

I'm not suggesting that we sell the F-35B to the People's Republic of China aka "Red China." I am suggesting that we sell the F-35B to the Republic of China, also known as Taiwan or Chinese Taipei. I've read that the ROC has sent delegations to Washington to try and buy the F-35B. The ROCAF wants STOVL because the PRC will likely destroy airfields early in any attack. In 2011, we were only willing to upgrade Taiwan's F-16A/B fighters and not sell them new F-16s so not to anger Beijing.
 
http://news.yahoo.com/chinese-man-rescued-attempt-land-disputed-island-041010303.html


http://news.yahoo.com/china-military-launch-39-joint-command-39-reorganize-004311164--sector.html
 
;)
Chinese officers told Japan about expanded air defense zone in 2010http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20140101p2a00m0na013000c.html

Deino
 
http://freebeacon.com/china-orders-foreign-fishing-vessels-out-of-most-of-the-south-china-sea/

South-China-Sea-Map.png

China imposes fishing curbs: New regulations imposed Jan. 1 limit all foreign vessels from fishing in a zone covering two-thirds of the South China Sea.
 
Ballsy.

There are two good approaches to theft: stealth, where you steal from people without them even knowing it... or boldly, out in the open, all the while proclaiming ignorance. It can be surprisingly effective, as politicians throughout history can attest.
 
Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Brunei are not going to be happy about Hainan’s new administrative zone. Is this the same as the People's Republic of China declaring two-thirds of the South China Sea an exclusive economic zone? I wonder if China will announce that it has the authority to issue oil and gas drilling permits within this newly created zone?
 
"Navy wants to expand Philippine presence, create temporary base"
Jul. 27, 2013 - 06:00AM |
By Gina Harkins and Sam Fellman
Staff writers

Source:
http://www.navytimes.com/article/20130727/NEWS/307270004/Navy-wants-expand-Philippine-presence-create-temporary-base

Your chances to visit historic Subic Bay, once a favorite port of call, are increasing.

The U.S. and the Philippines are negotiating to expand the presence of American warships and service members at Filipino bases, deepening an already close alliance and providing the fleet door-step access to the contested South China Sea.

The talks center on an “access agreement” that would allow the Navy to dispatch ships more often to Subic Bay; to store spare parts, supplies and hardware there that would be useful in a crisis; and to temporarily base sailors and Marines there.

The presence of U.S. forces in the Philippines is still a touchy issue two decades after the U.S. left its huge and long-standing bases there, such as Naval Station Subic Bay and Clark Air Base. Officials with both countries say the push is part of an attempt to work more closely together — not an invitation to re-establish the bases.

The government of the Philippines is “working with us as we look at, you know, potential access agreements down the road,” said Adm. Samuel Locklear, the head of U.S. Pacific Command, in a July 11 Pentagon briefing. “They’re always going to ask the question, ‘Is the U.S. going to re-open Subic or Clark?’ And I say, the U.S. isn’t going to open anymore bases in the Asia-Pacific.”

“We’re not in that business,” Locklear said.

Ship visits to the Philippines are on the rise. The U.S. is training more with the Filipino military and is using Subic Bay as a logistics hub, as with the June visit of attack submarine Asheville and submarine tender Frank Cable. Port visits to the Philippines increased from 54 in 2011 to 88 in 2012 and continue to rise, according to the news agency Reuters.

Subic Bay holds a hallowed place in naval history. A fleet commanded by Commodore George Dewey seized it in 1898 by destroying the Spanish fleet in the Battle of Manila Bay. (The famous phrase, “You may fire when ready, Gridley,” dates to Dewey’s open-fire order to cruiser commanding officer Capt. Charles Gridley.)

The U.S. presence reached its heyday during the Vietnam War, when Subic Bay’s piers and anchorages were used as a repair, refueling and rest-and-recuperation stop for as many as hundreds of ships each month. Mechanics repaired carrier-based aircraft at Naval Air Station Cubi Point.

But the U.S. pulled out of all its bases — some of its largest overseas — in 1992 after the Philippine Senate rejected a plan to extend a basing treaty signed in 1947. Various reasons were cited, including concerns over nuclear weapons passing through the region, the end of the Soviet Union as a Cold War threat, and the notion that the U.S. presence harkened back to the days of colonialism.
Return and refocus

Now, with the Pentagon’s strategic focus shifting to the Pacific, the Filipino bases are an ideal stopping point that’s roughly 1,000 miles west of Guam, where four ships are homeported. It also boosts the defensive posture of the Filipinos, who are locked in a territorial dispute with China over the South China Sea.

“With this recognition of an existential threat from China, I think there’s much more interest in having the United States presence,” said retired Air Force Col. Carl Baker, a Hawaii-based defense expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Baker said he believes the agreement likely would lead to more ship-repair work getting done in Subic Bay and more exercises with the Filipino navy. He estimated that the Marines dispatched there would number a few thousand at most and would rotate over for no more than six months at a time.

Baker said he anticipates the agreement may entail more berths for U.S. warships, but added that Subic Bay is highly commercial and will “stay largely focused on ship-servicing.”

Exact details on the basing proposals remain guarded in diplomatic channels. Asked how many ships and sailors the agreement may bring to the Philippines, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Pacific Command would only say that the basing would “enable temporary access to Philippine military facilities.”

A spokesman for the Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs declined to answer questions.

Whatever the final level, the additional basing is intended to boost training between the countries and to depot supplies in case of a crisis.

“An access agreement would increase opportunities for joint military training and exercises and allow the pre-positioning of equipment and supplies enabling us to respond quickly to disasters,” a State Department spokeswoman said in an email.
 
"Manila seeks clarification on Chinese fishing rules in South China Sea"
by Manuel Mogato and Sui-Lee Wee 12 hours ago

Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/manila-seeks-clarification-chinese-fishing-rules-south-china-090558208.html

MANILA/BEIJING (Reuters) - The Philippines said it was seeking clarification of rules from China's Hainan province that say fishing boats need permission to enter waters under its jurisdiction, which the local government says covers much of the disputed South China Sea.

Such a move, if broadly enforced, could worsen tensions in the region. Beijing claims almost the entire oil- and gas-rich South China Sea, rejecting rival claims to parts of it from the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei and Vietnam.

The fishing rules follow China's creation of a controversial air defense identification zone in late November above the East China Sea in an area that includes islands at the heart of a bitter territorial row with Japan.

Hainan's legislature approved the rules in November and they took effect on January 1, according to the website of the local government.

It says foreign fishing vessels need approval to enter from the "relevant and responsible department" of the Chinese government's cabinet.

Philippine Foreign Affairs Department spokesman Raul Hernandez said Manila had asked its embassy in Beijing to get more information on the rules.

Hainan, which juts into the South China Sea from the country's southern tip, says it governs 2 million square kilometers of water, according to local government data issued in 2011. The South China Sea is an estimated 3.5 million square km in size.

The Hainan rules do not outline penalties, but the requirements are similar to a 2004 national law, which says boats entering Chinese territory without permission can have their catch and fishing equipment seized and face fines of up to 500,000 yuan ($82,600).

Hainan officials were not immediately available to comment but Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said regulating the use of China's marine resources was a normal practice.

"The goal is to strengthen the security of fisheries resources and to openly and reasonably utilize and protect fisheries resources," Hua said at a regular news briefing when asked about the rules.

CHINA'S TIES WITH MANILA STRAINED

A senior Philippine naval official said the rules were a violation of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), adding China was unable to enforce such measures outside its territorial waters and its 200-mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

"This is excessive ... I don't know how this will be implemented but it will be effective only within the 200-mile (EEZ) from Hainan province," said the officer, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Peter Paul Galvez, a Philippine defense department spokesman, said authorities were ready to enforce fishing rules in the Philippines own EEZ, which include regulations on the type of fish that can be caught.

Chinese enforcement could depend on the nationality of the fishermen, said Shi Yinhong, an international relations professor at Renmin University in Beijing.

"I think Hainan put it out to tell relevant countries we have such a regulation, but how we practice it depends on how bilateral relations are," Shi said.

"If ties are good, the regulation may be loose. If not, we will practice it strictly, which means that you have to get approval from us before entering."

China's ties with Manila have been especially frosty over the South China Sea.

Separately, Japan is set to clarify the ownership of 280 remote islands within its territorial waters and register them as national assets, a move that could rile China.

(Additional reporting by Huang Yan and Megha Rajagopalan in BEIJING; writing by Dean Yates; editing by Neil Fullick.
 
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?234371-A-dangerous-escalation-in-the-South-China-Sea
 
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/01/10/us-usa-china-fishing-idUSBREA0817720140110
 
China starting trouble in the East and now South China seas implies that China is having serious trouble at home and is desperately seeking to deflect domestic attention away from these problems by creating the image of China having to unite to be strong against external enemies. The tactic of pointing to an external enemy has been used by countries all through history.


This is from two days ago on Bloomberg. And this credit - debt problem has been growing worse for months


"China's second-biggest brokerage said record debt threatens to trigger a financial crisis as borrowing [/size]costs[/size] jump to unprecedented highs despite a cooling economy."
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-08/crisis-risk-flagged-by-haitong-as-debt-snowballs-china-credit.html
 
VH said:
China starting trouble in the East and now South China seas implies that China is having serious trouble at home and is desperately seeking to deflect domestic attention away from these problems by creating the image of China having to unite to be strong against external enemies. The tactic of pointing to an external enemy has been used by countries all through history.


This is from two days ago on Bloomberg. And this credit - debt problem has been growing worse for months


"China's second-biggest brokerage said record debt threatens to trigger a financial crisis as borrowing [/size]costs[/size] jump to unprecedented highs despite a cooling economy."
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-08/crisis-risk-flagged-by-haitong-as-debt-snowballs-china-credit.html

Maybe, but I also believe that the People's Republic of China wants the fish, oil, gas, and other resources that can be found in the South China Sea and in the Senkaku Islands.
 
Making enemies like China is doing is a very stupid way to obtain resources. At some point China is going to push multiple countries into a corner and they will collectively fight back against China.


While the Chinese may think they are strong the combined efforts of many countries banding together can teach China a severe lesson. The Lilliputians brought down Gulliver. China should take heed.
 
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/asia/china/AJ201401120021
 
http://www.infowars.com/china-set-to-seize-south-china-sea-island-by-force/
 
"China preparing to seize Pag-asa Island – report"
by Pia Lee-Brago (The Philippine Star) | Updated January 14, 2014 - 12:00am

Source:
http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2014/01/14/1278584/china-preparing-seize-pag-asa-island-report

MANILA, Philippines - The Chinese Navy has drawn up a detailed plan to seize this year the Philippines’ Pag-asa Island in a battle that will be restricted in the South China Sea, according to a Chinese news network.

A report of business and strategy news platform Qianzhan (Prospects) in Mandarin was translated by English news site China Daily Mail and titled “Chinese troops will seize Pag-asa Island, which is called by China Zhongye, back from the Philippines in 2014.”

The report said the Philippines is so arrogant as to announce in the New Year that it will increase its navy and air force deployment at Pag-asa Island which is part of the disputed Spratly Islands.

“According to experts, the Chinese Navy has drawn a detailed combat plan to seize the island and the battle will be restricted within the South China Sea. The battle is aimed at recovery of the island stolen by the Philippines from China,” the report said.

The Philippines’ arrogance, the report said, is an intolerable insult to China.

“There will be no invasion into Filipino territories,” the report said.
Headlines ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1

The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) declined to comment on the report.

“We don’t comment on news articles that have unnamed and unofficial sources,” said DFA spokesman Raul Hernandez.

The Department of National Defense would have to validate the report about China’s supposed plan to seize Pag-asa Island, defense department spokesman Peter Galvez said.

Military officials declined to comment, saying the DFA is the agency authorized to speak on the matter.

China’s plan to invade Pag-asa Island could be part of Beijing’s 20-year expansion plan for its navy to have total dominance of the disputed Spratlys archipelago, security documents showed.

The document also showed that China’s plan was conceived 14 years ago following Beijing’s illegal occupation of Panganiban (Mishchief) Reef, some 130 nautical miles off Hulugan Bay in mainland Palawan and only 97 nautical miles east of Pag-asa Island.

“China has four to five years left to complete the plan,” an informed security official said, adding that it is already an open secret among Spratly claimant countries – the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan – that China has established a forward naval station at Panganiban Reef.

International defense analyst Greg Polling of the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, Southeast Asia Program, had warned two years ago that China has been rushing the construction of several warships specifically designed for its Spratlys naval operations.

Some of these warships that China has been building include hovercrafts capable of carrying one battalion of Marines and four tanks.

Several hovercraft units have already been completed and are just awaiting deployment after several sea trials.

China’s hovercraft project has reportedly solved the People Liberation Army’s problem of transporting warships directly into shallow waters surrounded by coral reefs, shoals and islets occupied by troops of other Spratly claimant countries.

Aside from Panganiban Reef, China has built another naval facility at Subi Reef where its transport ship has regularly been sighted. – With Alexis Romero, Jaime Laude
 
"Document: Report from U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission on China’s New Air Defense Zone"
Published: January 17, 2014 10:58 AM

Source:
http://news.usni.org/2014/01/17/document-report-u-s-china-economic-security-review-commission-chinas-new-air-defense-zone

On November 23, 2013, China established an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) over a significant portion of the East China Sea (ECS). The ADIZ includes the airspace over disputed areas, including the Senkaku Islands contested by China and Japan.

The declared zone also overlaps much of Japan’s established ADIZ in the ECS. Beijing stated the ADIZ is necessary to “[protect] state sovereignty and territorial and airspace security” in the ECS,1 suggesting the move is designed to strengthen China’s maritime and island claims in the region as well as justify air activity intended to defend these claims.

China’s ADIZ announcement almost certainly will harden negotiating positions on both sides. The move also could lead to increased Chinese and Japanese air patrols in the region, further fueling the potential for sudden escalation given an accident or miscalculation.
 
"China warns foreign planes entering defense zone"
by Christopher Bodeen
January 24, 2014

Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/china-warns-foreign-planes-entering-defense-zone-064540562.html

BEIJING (AP) — China said Friday it has begun issuing warnings to foreign military planes entering its self-declared air defense zone over the East China Sea amid heightened tensions with its neighbors, especially Japan.

Bitter rhetoric between the neighbors has spiked since Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe made a late-December visit to a war shrine in Tokyo that outraged Beijing. Abe this week compared the tense relationship to the pre-World War I rivalry between Britain and Germany. Japanese officials say the comment was meant as a warning to avoid war.

Chinese state media quoted air force spokesman Shen Jinke as saying several kinds of Chinese planes recently patrolled the sweeping zone that was declared in November. He said the planes identified several foreign military aircraft, flew alongside them and issued them warnings. He didn't identify the planes or say when the patrol was conducted.

The zone is a "purely defensive measure that conforms to international practice," Shen said.

The U.S., Japan and other countries denounced the zone's declaration in November as provocative and said they would ignore China's demands that their military aircraft announce flight plans, identify themselves and follow Chinese instructions. China has said it would take unspecified measures against aircraft that disobey.

In a policy address Friday in Tokyo, Abe reiterated Japan's position, saying it would "not tolerate any attempt to change the status quo by force." He said Japan would beef up its defensive capabilities "in order to defend the safety in the southwestern region, as well as the vast sea and airspace around Japan."

The zone is seen primarily as targeting Japanese and U.S. military flights over the East China Sea. Its declaration followed more than a year of heightened tensions between China and Japan over control of a series of tiny uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. The zone pointedly incorporates the island chain, known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese, which are controlled by Tokyo but claimed by Beijing.

The zone also incorporates a vast area of international airspace from Taiwan to the Korean Peninsula and overlaps in places with zones enforced by South Korea and Japan.

China and Japan have been engaged in a heightened war of words since Abe visited the Yasukuni shrine honoring war dead, including commanders executed as war criminals for committing atrocities in China and elsewhere during World War II. China has furiously protested the visit and launched a new round of invective against Japan in international media and diplomatic circles.

Abe says the visits are intended to pay homage to those who died and to show his commitment to pacifism, not to praise war criminals.

China's Foreign Ministry said Abe's World War I comments made Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switerzerland, and his visit to the shrine were signs of belligerence. "The Japanese leader, while paying lip-service to a positive peace policy, is effectively adopting a policy of military expansion and preparation for war," ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Friday.

However, Japan's Cabinet Secretary Yoshide Suga said Abe was drawing the Britain-Germany analogy as a warning for the two Asian countries not to repeat the same mistake of being drawn into a war despite their extensive trade ties.

Suga also told reporters that he is aware of reports that China had issued warnings to foreign aircraft, but declined to confirm them. "I don't understand what China means by voice-warning," Suga said. Japan's defense ministry has not reported any "abnormal flights" by Chinese military jets since Beijing declared its air zone, he said.

China's announcement about issuing warnings shows Beijing is serious about enforcing the zone and will likely be seen as an escalation by Japan and others, said Huang Jing, a China expert at Singapore National University's Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. China has consistently unnerved its neighbors since announcing the air defense zone with no advance warning and little explanation, he said.

China has rejected all such criticisms, and a government-backed scholar said a significant sector of the public believes Beijing hasn't gone far enough in challenging Tokyo and the U.S.

"Japan has its own air defense zone, so why shouldn't China? This is something China should have done a long time ago," said Qu Xing, head of the China Institute of International Studies, a think tank affiliated with the Foreign Ministry.
 
"Dozen F-22 Raptor jets deploying to Okinawa"
Stars and Stripes
Published: January 14, 2014

Source:
http://www.stripes.com/news/pacific/dozen-f-22-raptor-jets-deploying-to-okinawa-1.261930

TOKYO – About 12 Virginia-based F-22 Raptor fighter jets will deploy this month to Okinawa, according to an announcement posted on the 5th Air Force website.

The rotational deployment to Kadena Air Base will include about 300 people from Langley Air Force Base as part of a routine assignment, according to 5th Air Force officials.

The Air Force has been rotating fighters to Pacific Command bases on a regular basis since March 2004, according to the statement.

The single-seat, twin-engine Raptor is the Air Force’s newest fighter.

Kadena’s resident 18th Wing hosts the largest combat wing in the U.S. Air Force. It is composed mostly of F-15 jets, refuelers, E-3 Sentry aircraft and HH-60 Pave Hawk helicopters.
 
http://snafu-solomon.blogspot.ie/2014/01/this-thing-will-spiral-out-of-control.html
 
http://www.defensenews.com/article/20140202/DEFREG03/302020018/China-Accuses-Japan-Stoking-Tensions-Air-Defense-Rumors
 
China military is weaker and more dangerous than it looks

http://nextbigfuture.com/2014/02/china-military-is-weaker-and-more.html

It is precisely China’s military weakness that makes it so dangerous. Take the PLA’s lack of combat experience, for example. A few minor border scraps aside, the PLA hasn’t seen real combat since the Korean War. This appears to be a major factor leading it to act so brazenly in the East and South China Seas. Indeed, China’s navy now appears to be itching for a fight anywhere it can find one. Experienced combat veterans almost never act this way. Indeed, history shows that military commanders that have gone to war are significantly less hawkish than their inexperienced counterparts

Lacking the somber wisdom that comes from combat experience, today’s PLA is all hawk and no dove.

Interesting piece. Lacking real world combat experience, China's military is unrealistically hawkish. And lacking the depth and professionalism in their military to go up against the US, they've increasingly turned to first strike weaponry. None of which bodes well for peaceful times with China.
 
http://ajw.asahi.com/article/asia/china/AJ201402040081

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


BEIJING--A three-ship Chinese navy squadron has concluded exercises in the Indian Ocean and sailed on to the western Pacific, showing off the growing reach of the country's seagoing forces at a time of sharpening territorial disputes in regional waters.

State broadcaster CCTV said Feb. 4 that the squadron includes China's largest amphibious landing ship, the Changbaishan, along with a pair of destroyers. It said they reached the Indian Ocean on Jan. 29 and carried out a series of drills on the themes of counter-piracy, search and rescue, and damage control.

Although not directly targeted at India, the exercises underscore China's competition with the other Asian giant. India and China have clashed over their disputed Himalayan border and Beijing is a close ally of New Delhi's arch-rival Pakistan.

CCTV said the squadron passed through the Lombok Strait near the Indonesian island of Bali before heading north toward the Philippines. It is expected to return home through the South China Sea where Beijing is in a heated dispute with the Philippines and others over tiny islands, rich fishing grounds and a potential wealth of oil and other resources. China is also in a separate dispute with Japan over tiny uninhabited islands in the East China Sea that Tokyo controls but Beijing claims.

In order to back up those claims and extend its influence, China has been systematically developing a blue-water navy that has global reach, including launching its first aircraft carrier. China has also sent ships to join anti-piracy patrols off the coast of Somalia and taken part in joint exercises in the Mediterranean Sea and elsewhere.

The Changbaishan is one of China's newest and most advanced ships, capable of launching helicopters and landing craft.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS​
 
"US vows to defend Japan against China"
AFP
By Shaun Tandon
04/07/14

Source:
http://news.yahoo.com/us-vows-defend-japan-against-china-185432324.html

Washington (AFP) - Secretary of State John Kerry vowed Friday that the United States would defend Japan against attack including over islands claimed by China as tensions boil between the Asian powers.

Kerry, who said he would visit China next week, met in Washington with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and reaffirmed the 1960 treaty that commits the United States to protect its ally.

"That includes with respect to the South China Sea," he said, before correcting himself to say the East China Sea, where China and Japan have conflicting claims.

Fears of conflict rose in November when China imposed an Air Defense Identification Zone over much of the East China Sea.

Beijing says it now requires notification from planes crossing a group of islands administered by Tokyo, known in Japanese as the Senkaku and in Chinese as Diaoyu.

"The United States neither recognizes nor accepts China's declared East China Sea ADIZ and the United States has no intention of changing how we conduct operations in the region," Kerry said.
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US Secretary of State John Kerry(R) and Japanese Foreign …
US Secretary of State John Kerry(R) and Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida deliver remarks to t …

The United States and its allies are increasingly concerned China will take similar action in the South China Sea, where the Philippines in particular has voiced worries about Beijing's maritime claims.

Kishida, for his part, extended an invitation for President Barack Obama to make a state visit to Japan.

Diplomats say Obama is likely to visit Japan on an April tour of Asia, although Kerry is not expected to stop in Tokyo on his upcoming trip.

Kishida was visiting Washington after a rare open disagreement between the two allies.

The United States voiced disappointment in December when Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, known for his conservative views, paid a pilgrimage to the Yasukuni shrine which honors 2.5 million Japanese war dead including convicted war criminals from World War II.

Abe's visit outraged China and also fellow US ally South Korea. Both countries frequently accuse Japan of insufficient remorse for its aggression a century ago.

Kishida told Kerry that Japan valued its relationship with South Korea despite their "difficult issues," saying the two democracies needed to work together in the face of nuclear-armed North Korea.

"Going forward, we will make tenacious efforts in order to build a cooperative relationship with the Republic of Korea from a broad perspective," Kishida said.

Kishida also highlighted progress under Abe in relocating the Futenma air base within the island of Okinawa -- an issue that has cast a pall for years over defense ties between the two countries.

Kerry, in turn, praised Japan for addressing another longtime sore point by ratifying the Hague convention that sets procedures for the return of children abducted by one parent across international boundaries.

Kerry's latest trip to Asia comes as critics charge that his focus in his year in office on the Middle East has left US allies in Asia in want of a more robust presence by Washington.

Kerry said he was committed to the goal set in President Barack Obama's first term of putting a greater US focus on Asia, and said the strategy was impossible without "ironclad guarantees" between the United States and Japan.
 
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