Japan-China tensions mount in East China Sea

by | Jul 5, 2016 | News

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China has strongly criticized Japan over a scramble of military aircraft from the two countries  amid a dispute over islands in the East China Sea.

Japan is in an old dispute with China over ownership of a group of islands  northeast of Taiwan, known as the Senkakus in Japan and the Diaoyus  in China.

The Chinese Defense Ministry said that two Japanese fighter jets took “provocative actions” at a high speed near a pair of Chinese fighter jets patrolling  the sea  on June 17.

The Japanese planes used radar to “light up” the Chinese aircraft, the Chinese statement added. Japan has acknowledged that there was a scramble but has denied that  there was any radar lock.

“The Japanese plane’s provocative actions caused an accident in the air, endangering the safety of personnel on both sides, and destroying the peace and stability in the region,” China’s Defense Ministry said.

Japan has accused China of escalating military activity in the East China Sea, saying that Japanese emergency scrambles to counter Chinese jets have almost doubled over the past three months.

Reuters reports that Japan “is worried that China is escalating its activity in the East China Sea in response to Tokyo’s pledge to support countries in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines and Vietnam, that oppose China’s territorial claims in the South China Sea.”

To read the Reuters article on this, please hit this link

China puts on military show in advance of ruling on the South China Sea

by | Jul 5, 2016 | News

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China is saber-rattling this week in the South China Sea in advance of an international  legal ruling that might put into even more doubt China’s claims  to much of the sea. The government of President Xi Jinping has sent  extra naval vessels into the waters.

The exercises, inside a 100,000-square-kilometer zone around the disputed Paracel Islands, come ahead of a ruling expected next week by the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague over a long-standing territorial dispute between the Philippines and China.

The court will  rule on whether the Philippines  has the right to exploit waters  also claimed by China.

A ruling  could cast into doubt China’s vast claims in the region, through which about 30 percent of world trade goes through. But Beijing has refused to recognize the court’s authority.

To read The Guardian’s story on this, please hit this link.

 

Japan plans major warplane purchases to counter Chinese expansionism

by | Jun 30, 2016 | AI World Society Summit

As Chinese expansionism fuels fears all over East Asia, Japan plans to buy new fighter jets worth a total as much as $40 billion. Japan is increasingly worried about Chinese aggression in the East China Sea, where there are a number of islands whose ownership the two nations dispute. It’s also worried about Chinese militarization of the South China Sea, which could threaten freedom of navigation in some of the world’s most important shipping lanes.

The Japan Times reported: “The program will dwarf most recent fighter jet deals in value, likely attracting global contractor interest. But analysts say Japan’s preference for an aircraft that can operate closely with the U.S. military, given close Washington-Tokyo ties, makes a non-U.S. option a long shot.”

Japan seeks  a kind of warplane that will let it  maintain air superiority over China. China’s warplanes still lag behind those used by the U.S. and its allies, but Beijing has been building its capability,  fueling a more muscular security agenda under Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

To read The Japan Times’s story on this, please hit this link.

 

Chinese tail U.S. carrier but no incidents are reported

by | Jun 20, 2016 | Initiative

 

U.S. officials say that at least one Chinese military ship tailed the USS John C. Stennis , an aircraft carrier, daily during its recent cruise through the South China Sea. But The Washington Post, in another of its frequent updates on tensions in the sea, said that no hostile incidents were reported.

The P0st reported that “Despite lingering suspicions, the two navies have been gradually expanding contacts and have agreed to protocols to avoid unintended incidents at sea.’’

To read The Post story, please his this link.

Poll suggests Australians see U.S. Asia-Pacific power waning

Poll suggests Australians see U.S. Asia-Pacific power waning

by | Jun 8, 2016 | AI World Society Summit

(June 13th, 2016) A poll of  Australians suggest that most believe that China has become the most influential nation in the Asia-Pacific region and that more want stronger ties with the rising superpower than with the U.S., The Guardian reported.

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Enthusiasm for a strong U.S. role in the Asia-Pacific was also significantly lower in Australia than in South Korea, Indonesia, Japan and even China in some cases, according to the research released on Wednesday by the University of Sydney’s U.S .Studies Centre and regional partners.

The Guardian reported that “More Australians (70%) were likely to see Beijing and Washington as ‘competitors’ than even the Chinese citizens surveyed (50%), though the poll also found a significant lack of regional awareness among Australian respondents, 42% of whom were not aware that Japan was a U.S. ally.”

Only the South Koreans and the Japanese felt generally positive about the U.S. role   in the region.

James Brown, a research director at the U.S. Studies Center,  told The Guardian that the results suggested Australians “remain seized by the narrative that U.S. power is declining in the region” and had a “a benevolent view” of the rivalry between China and the U.S. and “might not automatically identify with Japanese concerns over China” – including disputes over islands in the South China Sea.

For more details, hit this link.