It's the China part that gets me.
Related: China Keeps Its Cool
"China ups ante in airspace; Sends warplanes to patrol newly declared zone" by Christopher Bodeen | Associated Press, November 29, 2013
BEIJING — China said it sent warplanes into its newly declared maritime air defense zone Thursday, days after the United States, South Korea, and Japan all sent flights through the airspace in defiance of rules Beijing says it has imposed in the East China Sea.
China’s air force sent several fighter jets and an early warning aircraft on normal air patrols in the zone, the Xinhua agency reported, citing air force spokesman Shen Jinke.
The report did not specify exactly when the flights were sent or whether they had encountered foreign aircraft. The United States, Japan, and South Korea have said they have sent flights through the zone without encountering any Chinese response since Beijing announced the creation of the zone last week.
Shen described Thursday’s flights as ‘‘a defensive measure and in line with international common practices.’’ He said China’s air force would remain on high alert and will take measures to protect the country’s airspace.
While China’s surprise announcement last week to create the zone initially raised some tensions in the region, analysts say Beijing’s motive is not to trigger an aerial confrontation but is a more long-term strategy to solidify claims to disputed territory by simply marking the area as its own.
Someone sure tried to though!
China’s lack of efforts to stop the foreign flights — including two US B-52s that flew through the zone Tuesday — has been an embarrassment for Beijing. Even some Chinese state media outlets suggested Thursday that Beijing may have mishandled the episodes.
Are you kidding? It's been to their credit for being so restrained!
‘‘Beijing needs to reform its information release mechanism to win the psychological battles waged by Washington and Tokyo,’’ the Global Times, a nationalist tabloid published by the Communist Party’s flagship People’s Daily, said in an editorial.
You don't have to worry about losing it to those agenda-pushing liars, especially when it comes through the mouthpiece of the regional flagshit Boston Globe!
Without prior notice, Beijing began demanding Saturday that passing aircraft identify themselves and accept Chinese instructions or face consequences in an East China Sea zone that overlaps a similar air defense identification zone overseen by Japan since 1969 and initially part of one set up by the US military.
That's why we want no changes!
But when tested just days later by the B-52 flights — with Washington saying it made no effort to comply with China’s rules, and would not do so in the future — Beijing merely noted, belatedly, that it had seen the flights and taken no further action.
South Korea’s military said Thursday that its planes flew through the zone this week without informing China and with no apparent interference.
Related: S. Korea expands air defense zone
Japan also said its planes have been continuing to fly through it, while the Philippines, locked in a bitter dispute with Beijing over South China Sea islands, said it also was rejecting China’s declaration.
Related: Philippines Typhoon Forgotten
Analysts question China’s technical ability to enforce the zone due to a shortage of early warning radar aircraft and in-flight refueling capability.
Then all this churn is nothing more than an attempt to get a war going?
However, many believe that China has a long-term plan to win recognition for the zone with a gradual ratcheting-up of warnings and possibly also eventual enforcement action.
That's a U.S. shtick.
‘‘With regard to activity within the zone, nothing will happen — for a while,’’ said June Teufel Dreyer, a China expert at the University of Miami. ‘‘Then the zone will become gradually enforced more strictly.’’
That may wear down Japan and effectively change the status quo, she said.
Now you know why U.S. is getting so angry. In fact, Japan and China had a deal years ago to share the resources and the U.S. pressured Japan into selfishness.
The zone is seen primarily as China’s latest bid to bolster its claim over a string of uninhabited Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea — known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. Beijing has been ratcheting up its sovereignty claims since Tokyo’s privatization of the islands last year.
--more--"
"Chinese jets dispatched to find US planes in zone" by Jane Perlez | New York Times, November 30, 2013
BEIJING — China scrambled jets on Friday and identified two US surveillance planes and 10 Japanese aircraft in its newly declared air defense zone, the Chinese state news media said. The scrambling of the jets to find foreign aircraft was the first move announced by China showing it was enforcing the zone, which it established last weekend.
Talk about a PROVOCATION!
Although there was no indication that China’s air force showed any hostile intent, the move ratcheted up tensions in a long-simmering dispute between Japan and China that could lead to a military miscalculation, which some fear could spiral out of control.
Some are really keeping their fingers crossed, and a false flag must never be discounted.
The United States, which is bound by treaty to defend Japan if it is attacked, directly entered the fray this week by sending unarmed B-52s into the contested airspace, defying Chinese demands that all aircraft notify the Chinese that they were coming in advance or face possible military action.
On Friday, officials said the Obama administration has decided to tell US commercial airlines to comply with China’s demands to be notified of any flights through the broad swath of international airspace it has claimed as an air defense zone.
Even as the United States continued to send military planes into the zone in defiance of China’s declaration, officials said they expected civilian planes to go along with Beijing’s new demands out of an abundance of caution.
Imagine how the empire would react were it to find itself in China's situation. We'd blast those planes out of the sky!
The administration’s decision contrasted with that by Japan’s government, which told its civilian airlines not to abide by the Chinese rules.
The dispute between China and Japan centers on uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. The new air defense zone includes airspace above the islands. Analysts believe that China’s intent in declaring control was not to force a conflict but to try to build a case that it has as much claim to the islands as Japan, which has long administered them.
But China may have miscalculated in making the move, experts say, perhaps not expecting such a strong pushback from the United States and Japan.
In Washington, administration officials confirmed US planes had continued what they called routine training and surveillance flights in the disputed airspace. The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, declined to provide specifics of the US flights Friday, suggesting that they were classified reconnaissance missions....
Thus contributing to tensions.
A US surveillance plane was involved in a major diplomatic incident between China and the United States in 2001 when it collided with a Chinese fighter jet over the South China Sea. The Chinese pilot was killed, and the US plane made an emergency landing on Hainan Island in southern China, an accident that badly damaged relations....
And gave the Chinese access to sensitive technology before they handed it all back over.
What were we doing spying on them in their airspace anyway?
--more--"
"UN help sought in airspace dispute" December 01, 2013
NIIGATA — Seeking broader international support for opposing China’s claims to airspace over the East China Sea, Japan has asked the UN agency that oversees civil aviation to look into whether the newly created Chinese air defense zone could endanger civilian airliners, the Foreign Ministry said Saturday. The ministry said it submitted a proposal for the agency, the International Civil Aviation Organization, to examine whether China’s move could threaten the order and safety of international aviation in the area (New York Times)."
You know who can solve this situation?
"Biden faces diplomatic balancing act during Asia visit" by Mark Landler | New York Times, December 03, 2013
TOKYO — With Japan locked in a tense standoff with China over disputed airspace, Vice President Joe Biden arrived here late Monday for a weeklong visit to Asia intended to reassure a close ally and demand answers from a potential adversary.
Some are sure hoping.
Related: Joe Biden’s task in Asia: Help Beijing back off its aggressive stance
Yeah, it's China who is being aggressive.
Biden may also need to repair a perceived disconnect between the United States and Japan in their responses to China’s declaration of a restricted flight zone over a swath of the East China Sea that includes disputed islands claimed by both Japan and China.
Oh, the allies already divided?
The Obama administration protested the “air defense identification zone” and sent two unarmedB-52s on a mission through the zone to underscore its displeasure. But as a safety precaution, federal regulators advised US civilian flights to identify themselves before entering the airspace, in compliance with the Chinese rules.
That was viewed by some in Japan as a mixed message, since the Japanese government had told its airlines to ignore the Chinese demand. Japanese newspapers began worrying about “allies no longer walking in lockstep,” and government officials sought clarification from Washington.
The State Department said that the advice did not mean that the United States was recognizing China’s self-declared air-defense zone. US officials have told the Japanese that the FAA decision was a safety recommendation, not an order.
Administration officials said Biden would leave no doubt in Japan or China that the United States views the Chinese move as a provocation.
We didn't have any before you left.
Still, the official said, Biden would not deliver a formal diplomatic protest to Beijing, where he is to meet with President Xi Jinping on Wednesday. His aides are determined not to allow the matter to swallow up his trip, during which the vice president also hopes to build support for a trans-Pacific trade pact and coordinate a response to the nuclear threat in North Korea.
Which is what it is doing.
Related: Pacific area free trade deal closer
Biden arrived in Tokyo on Monday evening and was met by Caroline Kennedy, the new US ambassador to Japan.
What a nothing she is. Not a peep from her about the continuing crisis at Fukushima, and not a peep from the pre$$ for weeks now.
--more--"
"Territorial dispute casts shadow over Biden’s visit to China" by Josh Lederman | Associated Press, December 04, 2013
TOKYO — In what was supposed to be a warm reunion, Vice President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping meet instead Wednesday in a climate chilled with tension over an airspace dispute that has put Asia on edge.
It's swallowing up hi trip.
A day before seeing Xi, Biden stood in Japan and publicly rebuked China for trying to enforce its will on its neighbors, escalating the risk of a potentially dangerous accident.
He didn't say that, did he? That's one of the cornerstones of U.S. foreign policy.
Although Biden had hoped to focus on areas of cooperation as the United States seeks an expanded Asia footprint, China’s declaration of a new air defense zone above disputed islands in the East China Sea has created a wide gulf with the United States that Biden will seek to bridge during his two-day trip to Beijing.
The U.S. is like a kid who wants everything its way, and is unhappy if that is not the way it is.
Washington prefers not to get involved in a territorial spat, but concern that China’s action may portend a broader effort to assert dominance in the region has drawn the United States into the dispute, putting Biden in the middle as he jets from Japan to China to South Korea on a weeklong tour of Asia.
We were looking to get in!
‘‘We, the United States, are deeply concerned by the attempt to unilaterally change the status quo in the East China Sea,’’ Biden said after meeting in Tokyo on Tuesday with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. ‘‘This action has raised regional tensions and increased the risk of accidents and miscalculation.’’
But it is OKAY when WE INVADE IRAQ or some other place, right Joe?
Biden said he would raise those concerns with China’s leaders ‘‘with great specificity’’ during his Beijing visit.
Although the United States has repeatedly said it rejects the zone, Biden has avoided calling publicly for Beijing to retract it, wary of making demands that China is likely to snub. Rather, the United States hopes that with enough pressure, China will refrain from strictly enforcing the zone.
What’s more, the United States wants to show that the diplomatic consequences for such actions are severe enough that China will think twice in the future about asserting its authority in such heavy-handed ways. Already, China has claimed it has a sovereign right to establish a similar zone over the South China Sea, where China and the Philippines are locked in another long-running territorial dispute.
Good thing the typhoon happened so all those U.S. and British warships could be moved into the area, even though they are now off the propaganda pre$$ radar.
The East China Sea zone covers more than 600 miles from north to south above international waters separating China, South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan. China says all aircraft entering the zone must notify Chinese authorities beforehand or face unspecified defensive measures.
The United States is striving to increase its own influence in Asia, in part as a hedge against China’s growing power.
But THAT is okay because we are the "good guys."
But the Obama administration has said it’s pursuing a new model for engagement with China, where the two countries can cooperate economically while maintaining a healthy competition.
‘‘There is a mistrust here by China of US intentions,’’ said Senator Ben Cardin, the Maryland Democrat who chairs the Senate’s Asia panel. ‘‘China is not clear why the US is interested in Asia. They think it may be to affect China’s development in a negative way — and nothing could be further from the truth.’’
The mistrust is there for good reason! No one trusts the United States government anymore!
--more--"
"Chinese leaders resist Biden’s pressure over airspace dispute" by Mark Landler | New York Times, December 05, 2013
BEIJING — Chinese leaders pushed back at visiting Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday over what they assert is their right to control a wide swath of airspace in the bitterly contested East China Sea. But the Chinese also indicated they had not decided how aggressively to enforce their so-called air defense identification zone, which has ignited tensions with Japan.
Shuttling from one feuding neighbor to the other, Biden arrived from Tokyo to urge China’s president, Xi Jinping, to show restraint in the restricted zone, which Biden said the United States regarded as illegitimate and a provocation.
After 5½ hours of meetings, in which Biden laid out the US case against China’s action and Xi made a forceful counterargument, senior administration officials said, “President Xi took on board what the vice president said. It’s up to China, and we’ll see how things will unfold in the coming days and weeks.”
Xi’s response suggests China and Japan could manage a standoff that had threatened to escalate dangerously, with China scrambling fighter jets to intercept Japanese airliners flying off the Chinese coast.
In remarks midway through the meetings, Biden did not refer to the dispute, but said the relationship between the United States and China “ultimately has to be based on trust, and a positive notion about the motive of one another.”
Xi, who cultivated unusually personal ties to Biden when he was China’s vice president, sounded an upbeat note about the broad relationship, though he conceded “regional hot-spot issues keep cropping up.”
He welcomed Biden as “my old friend” and said nothing directly about the air zone.
For Biden, however, China’s sudden action last month upended what was meant to be a tour of Asia with a wide-ranging agenda. Instead, he has had to walk a fine line: defending an ally and rebuking a potential adversary, while preventing a spat over a clump of islands in the East China Sea from mushrooming into a wider conflict.
I guess he succeeded because it has calmed down.
A day earlier in Tokyo, Biden condemned China’s action as an effort to “unilaterally change the status quo” and said it had raised “the risk of accidents and miscalculation.”
And we can't have that!
Biden stopped short of calling on China to rescind the zone, something it is unlikely to do, given the nationalist sentiments that have been animated by its standoff with Japan.
Uh-oh. When the globalist agenda-pushers use that word you are in trouble!
The US military has ignored the zone, dispatching B-52 bombers last week to fly through it.
Shortly after Biden arrived, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the new air defense identification zone was a fact of life.
--more--"
Related:
Airspace zone downplayed in China-Australia talks
Being played down everywhere but in the war-promoting AmeriKan media.
Nonstop flights to China called a win for Boston
Beijing-Logan flights are official
I suppose it is okay as long as it was not an Asiana flight.
Sunday Globe Special: Chinese Breakfast
It became what I fixed you today, readers. Hope you enjoyed it.
