Managing Chinese Threat

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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

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China Hopes to Maintain Peace Along Borders with India - ToI

Didn't realize that deep incursions into Indian territory and staying put there for weeks together are part of China's defintion of 'maintaining peace along borders'.
China has said it hopes to continue to strengthen cooperation and coordination with India in international affairs and work together to maintain peace in border areas.

China's position was articulated by state councilor Yang Jiechi during talks with National Security advisor Shivshankar Menon on the sidelines of a meeting of senior BRICS representatives on national security in Cape Town yesterday.

Yang told Menon that China hopes to continue to strengthen cooperation and communication with India, enhance coordination in regional and international affairs and work together to maintain peace in border areas, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.


Menon hoped China and India could maintain high-level exchanges, cement various negotiation mechanisms and expand cooperation to push forward bilateral relations to a higher level.

In October, India and China inked the Border Defence Cooperation Agreement during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's visit to Beijing to maintain peace and tranquillity on the Line of Actual Control.

Earlier, addressing a meeting of the BRICS national security advisers, Yang called for strengthening security cooperation among the member countries.

BRICS nations should strengthen cooperation and coordination to play their roles in safeguarding international and regional peace and stability, he said.

Yang said cyber and information security is vital to national security and social stability {Is this a joke or what, comin as it does from the biggest organized, government-controlled and army-owned hacking community in the world ?}, and BRICS members should jointly promote information security and solve cyber disputes through negotiation.

BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) countries should strengthen cooperation on cyber security and set up platforms for exchanges, he said.
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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

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China pulls out of UN process over territorial dispute with Philippines
• Move underscores China's tough geopolitical stance in region
• Territorial claims continue to dominate visit by Joe Biden

Paul Lewis in Washington
theguardian.com, Friday 6 December 2013 18.25 GMT

China is taking the highly unusual step of refusing to participate in a United Nations arbitration process over a territorial conflict with the Philippines, one of five countries challenging Beijing’s claims of ownership over the oil-rich South China Sea.

The legal dispute underscores the tough geopolitical approach China is adopting in the Pacific region. It has adopted an aggressive approach toward neighbours over a 2,000-mile stretch that also includes the East China Sea, over which it recently declared the air defence identification zone that has inflamed tensions with Japan and South Korea.

China sent its only aircraft carrier to the disputed waters off the coast of the Philippines for the first time last week, in a move Manila said raised tensions. China’s military said the carrier Liaoning will conduct drills in the area, accompanied by two destroyers and two frigates.

Dealing with the fallout over China’s territorial claims has become the dominant issue for the US vice-president, Joe Biden, who is currently touring the Asia Pacific region.

Biden arrived in South Korea on Thursday after high-level bilateral meetings in China and Japan that were dominated by the issue of the air defence zone.

The Philippines will submit its formal case to the UN arbitration tribunal of judges, which has agreed to hear the case at The Hague, in March. A preview of their arguments were outlined this week in Washington by Paul Reichler, an expert attorney at Foley Hoag LLP hired by Manila to handle the case.

He said China’s blank refusal to participate in the tribunal process, a move it revealed to the Philippines by way of diplomatic letter in February, marked the first time a state had ever refused to take part in an inter-state arbitration under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Under the convention, the panel of senior international judges is still required to issue a ruling in the case, despite China’s non-cooperation, although Reichler conceded there were no way of enforcing any ruling.

But he added: “There is a price to be paid for branding yourself an international outlaw – a state that does not comply with the rules.” China declined an opportunity to comment on the case.

The dispute concerns China’s declaration of the so-called nine-dash line, which claims jurisdiction over nearly all of the mineral-rich South China Sea, overlapping with large segments of territory claimed by the Philippines as well as of Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

In parts, China’s declared jurisdiction, which enables it to exploit lucrative fishing waters and potential oil and gas reserves, stretch more than 800 miles from its mainland coast. It also comes to within 30 miles of the coast of the Philippines.

Under the convention, states have a right to an exclusive economic zone and continental shelf within 200 miles of their coast. Disputes over the South China Sea are not unlike those over the Japanese-administered Senkaku islands – referred to as the Diaoyu islands in China – which are dominating Biden’s visits to Japan, China and South Korea this week.

Although the ad-hoc tribunal formed to deal with the case cannot rule on the sovereignty of the islands claimed by both China and the Philippines, it can provide rulings about the nature of rock formations, with implications for any territorial claims under the convention. Some of the disputed territories are barely visible at high tide, while others are fully submerged even at low tide.

In a bid to strengthen its claims, China has constructed concrete installations on some underwater formations, complete with basketballs and helipads. “A state cannot transform an underwater feature into an island by building on top of it,” Reichler said at a seminar organised by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

In simple terms, the judges will in part be asked to determine when a rock can be defined as an island. If a rock protruding from the sea cannot sustain human life or economic activity, for example, the associated rights in surrounding waters are, under the convention, dramatically reduced, regardless of which state claims ownership.

Reichler also showed one slideshow of an island that, at high-tide, consisted of rocks that only just protruded out of the water. “It is barely big enough to support the Filipino flag,” he said.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/d ... hilippines
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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

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Surasena wrote:
China pulls out of UN process over territorial dispute with Philippines
But he added: “There is a price to be paid for branding yourself an international outlaw – a state that does not comply with the rules.” China declined an opportunity to comment on the case.
Guru's what could be the possible impact if the UN process declares China as an international outlaw ?
Although I highly doubt it would ever happen...
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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

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UNCLOS must give an ex-parte judgement. China is refusing to attend the arbitration proceedings because it knows that its case is very weak. It wants to settle its dispute outside of UNCLOS, or outside of ASEAN and only bilaterally because it thinks it can browbeat the small Philippines into submission that way.
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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

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Japan's Defence Ties with Manila Get a Boost from Chinese ADIZ Threat - JT
Japan and the Philippines pledged to boost defense ties as both nations expressed concern over China’s establishment of an air defense identification zone in the East China Sea.

“Both of us have affirmed that China’s unilateral action to change the status quo by force or coercive action will bring back tension in this region,” Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera told reporters in Manila on Saturday after meeting with his Philippine counterpart, Voltaire Gazmin. They agreed to “expand and deepen” cooperation on “defense authorities,” he said.

Japan and the Philippines are also boosting ties with other nations as they seek to counter China’s increasing assertiveness in staking territorial claims.
Japan, China and Taiwan are disputing sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands, which China claims as Diaoyu and Taiwan as Tiaoyutai. The Philippines and China meanwhile have conflicting claims over areas of the fish- and gas-rich South China Sea.

Specifics on expanded cooperation will be discussed by a working group, Onodera said. In June, Japan and the Philippines agreed to cooperate on the “defense of remote islands” and “protection of maritime interests” during Onodera’s first visit to the country.

Japan and the U.S. “have been firmly and calmly continuing patrol and surveillance in the area” under dispute and it is important for the international community to express concern, Onodera said.
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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

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Tokyo has no Gripe with Seoul's Expanded ADIZ - JT
Tokyo has accepted Seoul’s expanded air defense identification zone in the East China Sea, Japanese officials said Monday, noting that unlike China’s abruptly declared ADIZ, South Korea’s won’t infringe on the freedom of flight in airspace over the high seas under international law.

Part of South Korea’s expanded ADIZ now overlaps Japan’s in the East China Sea. But Tokyo has not complained to Seoul, apparently so Japan and South Korea can maintain united opposition to the ADIZ China declared last month in areas covering the contested Japanese-held Senkaku islets, as well as a reef under the South’s control.

Unlike China’s air zone, South Korea’s zone does not cover airspace over territory or sea areas effectively controlled by Japan, and Seoul will not impose new obligations on Japanese airlines, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said.

In addition, unlike Beijing, Seoul also notified Tokyo in advance of its plan to expand its ADIZ, and the two sides already have well-established communications channels to avoid an accidental clash of military aircraft in the zone, Suga said.

“We don’t think (South Korea’s ADIZ) will cause any immediate problems with us,” Suga told a news conference. “It is our understanding that South Korea made its decision to counter China’s ADIZ.”

China’s zone, declared unilaterally on Nov. 23, covers Ieodo, a disputed rock off South Korea’s southern coast that is under ROK control but also claimed by China, which calls the reef Suyan.

The airspace above the rock is also covered by Japan’s ADIZ.

Japan’s ADIZ, however, does not extend to airspace over contested islets in the Sea of Japan midway between Honshu and South Korea. Once controlled by Japan, the rocky outcroppings, which Tokyo refers to as Takeshima and regards as part of Shimane Prefecture, have been held for decades by South Korea, which calls them Dokdo.

Since the islets are controlled by South Korea, Japan’s ADIZ does not cover them. This is true of other areas claimed by but not held by Japan, particularly the Russian-held islands off Hokkaido. “We believe the territorial dispute (over Dokdo/Takeshima) should be peacefully resolved through diplomatic talks,” a Foreign Ministry official said Monday in Tokyo.

In general, Japan has not extended its ADIZ over areas that it has failed to effectively control despite its territorial claims. For example, Japan’s ADIZ does not cover the airspace over the Northern Territories islands off Hokkaido, which Tokyo has claimed but have been effectively controlled by Russia for decades

A nation’s territorial airspace covers its land and nearby waters, extending 22.2 km from its coast. But an ADIZ can be extend hundreds of kilometers beyond the territorial water limit to monitor approaching foreign aircraft. China’s new ADIZ covers the Senkakus and overlaps Japan’s ADIZ.

Japan took initial control of the Senkakus in 1895, and set up an ADIZ covering the islets in 1969. In the 1970s, China began claiming the islets, which it calls Diaoyu, as did Taiwan, which calls them Tiaoyutai.

Tokyo has demanded Beijing rescind its ADIZ.

An ADIZ is set up under a given nation’s domestic laws as a defensive perimeter to monitor incursions by suspicious aircraft. But under international law, unlike territorial airspace, a country’s sovereign rights may not be accorded much weight with an ADIZ.

But Beijing is demanding that all foreign aircraft entering China’s ADIZ submit flight plans and is threatening to take “defensive emergency measures” against those that defy its rules.

U.S. military and Self-Defense Forces aircraft continue to fly through the zone without complying with China’s demands.
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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

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Indian Navy Closely Watching China Claims - New Indian Express

China’s unilateral announcement of an Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) in East China Sea hasn’t bothered the Navy much, but the conflict situation unfolding there is ‘under close examination’ if the ADIZ may get extended to South China Sea too, where India has economic interests in Vietnam maritime territory. Navy Chief Admiral D K Joshi had earlier this week said the East China Sea situation was ‘not of immediate application’ to the Navy because its warships, with air element in the form of helicopters or ship-borne aircraft, do not regularly operate there. However, the possibility of a similar scenario in the South China Sea has made the Navy to keep a close watch on how the situation plays out among China, Japan, Taiwan and the US there.

“Yes, we do have units with integral air element and sometimes they do operate (in South China Sea). Therefore, this particular issue (China’s ADIZ in East China Sea) is under close examination,” Joshi said.

China had in late November announced the ADIZ for the East China Sea, half of which overlaps the Japanese ADIZ and parts of South Korea and Taiwan’s ADIZ, leading to a conflict situation there.

The Navy chief also pointed that the Indian Air Force has promulgated an ADIZ in the Indian Ocean region, as it was responsible for the air defence. To another query on possible maritime conflicts in the Indian Ocean Region, Joshi said the Navy did not expect such hostile engagement in the region.
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Re: China's ADIZ and US-Jap reactions

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China's ADIZ: A Case of an Overreach ? - R.S.Kalha, IDSA
When China announced on 23 November 2013 the establishment of an ‘Air Defence Identification Zone’ [ADIZ] in the East China Sea area and included the disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku islands in the zone; it was clear that the main target of this exercise was Japan. What China has initiated is not something that is unique, for there about 20 countries, including the US and Japan, that have also in the past unilaterally set up similar zones. Unlike elsewhere the Chinese and Japanese zones do have over-lapping areas and therefore the potential for a confrontation exists. However as far as international law is concerned this concept is barely recognized. Since this zone has been established in the air space adjacent to Chinese territorial air space what is its legitimacy in international law?

Normally under international law, a country’s sovereign airspace extends to the outer limits of its territorial waters; that is 12 nautical miles from its coastline. Most countries require all foreign military aircraft to obtain permission to enter their airspace and reserve the right to take military action that includes shooting them down, in case there is no compliance. As both China and Japan claim the Senkaku/Diaoyu islands in the East China Sea as part of their territory they also claim sovereign airspace above the islands and over waters extending 12 nautical miles around them. Logically therefore as far as the rest of the zone is concerned it is international air space.

Apart from sovereignty over a 12 mile territorial limit there is also the concept of the Exclusive Economic Zone [EEZ]. According to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea [UNCLOS], each signatory state can claim an EEZ that gives it special rights to exploit marine resources up to 200 nautical miles from its coastline. When EEZs overlap, states are supposed to negotiate an agreed boundary. Most states allow freedom of passage for foreign vessels through their EEZ to proceed unhindered. However, some states disagree on whether non-aggressive foreign military operations – such as reconnaissance patrols — should be allowed in their EEZ. China often intercepts and tracks foreign military planes over its EEZ, but usually does not take any military action.

It is obvious therefore that an ADIZ has no basis in international law, nor is it administered by any international organization. So definitions and rules vary between different countries. That Japan has decided to approach the International Civil Aviation Organization [ICAO] will perhaps be a test case. Normally ADIZs are established beyond a country’s airspace to give its armed forces time to respond to potentially hostile incoming aircraft. Many states require foreign military aircraft to identify themselves, but will not intercept nor repel them or force them to land unless they consider them a distinct threat. The US says that in its ADIZ it requires pre-notification procedures only if foreign aircraft intend to enter its sovereign airspace. China has made no such stipulations so far. If China decides to follow the US practice, that itself might lead to a lessening of tension with Japan.

The US has taken no position on the merits of the case involving the Sino-Japanese dispute over the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands; although it has made clear that the US-Japan Security Treaty covers the islands and that it considers them to be under Japanese administration. The US even dispatched unarmed B-52 bombers to fly into the Chinese ADIZ, without informing the Chinese authorities, to demonstrate its position as a faithful ally in Japanese eyes. And yet on the other hand keeping in mind the visit of Vice-President Biden to China, where it needs Chinese help to free a US citizen held by the North Koreans and to keep in check North Korean nuclear ambitions, the US allowed major American airlines such as United, American and Delta to notify Chinese authorities of their flight plans when traveling through the Chinese declared Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ). Apart from Japanese airlines, about 55 airlines from 19 countries have followed the US example. Although the US government also stated in the advisory issued to its airlines that this does not mean it accepts China's newly established zone, there is no doubt that this is a significant softened gesture to China. Therefore has China succeeded in causing fissures in US-Japanese relations?

There is no doubt that this an audacious foreign policy gambit played by China. Un-named Chinese officials have been quoted in the Chinese press to say that China is willing to instigate strategic confrontation against Japan and are prepared for it to last a ‘long time.’ The Chinese have quickly surmised that public opinion in the US is demonstrably against foreign military adventures and that the Obama Administration is even less so inclined, as seen in its posture over the Syrian imbroglio or the Iranian nuclear issue. If the US hesitates or prevaricates in its support of Japan, then the inevitable conclusion drawn by other East and South-East Asian States will be that the US is no more a reliable security provider. If this perception persists it would be to the immense strategic advantage of China who would then emerge as the strongest economic and military power in the region. Chinese official publications make it clear that if the US does not go ‘too far,’ China will not target it in safeguarding its air defense zone. Both the Chinese and the US realize that there is too much at stake in their bilateral relations for them to adopt harsh antagonistic postures. The Chinese President, Xi Jinping has been advocating a ‘new’ relationship with the US by underlining 3 basic principles. These are [a] No conflict and no confrontation Mutual respect and [c]Win-win co-operation which means that each side abandon a zero sum mentality and accommodate each-others interests as also deepen shared interests [emphasis added].1 There are indications that during his visit to Beijing Vice-President Biden told President Xi that the US had no major differences over this particular formulation.

There is no doubt that the Chinese have placed the US in an extremely acute diplomatic bind. Vice-President Biden visits to Tokyo, Beijing and Seoul recently have tested his diplomatic skills to the limit. Therefore it was his mission to urge ‘restraint’ on all parties and while the US defended its ally Japan’s position terming the ADIZ as ‘illegitimate and a provocation,’ Biden did not call for it to be rescinded. These differences of perception between the US and Japan were utilized by the Chinese to sublimely suggest that for the US its relations with China were far more important. The last thing that the US wants is a military confrontation between China and Japan over the insignificant Diaoyu/Senkaku islands. To an extent Biden succeeded in defusing tension when the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said that the ADIZ was a ‘zone of co-operation and not a zone of confrontation.’

Nationalist Japanese politicians will use China’s belligerence to push for a revision of the Japanese Constitution, particularly Article 9. As any amendment to the Japanese Constitution requires a 2/3rds majority, it might be possible to attain this figure by over- riding hitherto significant opposition on the shoulders of the anti-Chinese sentiments unleashed by China’s provocative action. In other words, Japan may emerge as in PM Abe’s words as a ‘normal country,’ without any of the self- denying military prohibitions that limit the role of the Japanese Self-Defence Forces. A militarily rejuvenated Japan is likely to cause immense strategic problems for China; for which its audacious move in setting up an ADIZ would be largely responsible.

China would also have hardly been comforted by the thought that not a single country in East and South East Asia supported its move. In fact it was just the opposite with almost all coming out in opposition to China’s ADIZ. Even the bitterness in Japan-South Korean relations seemed to subside. China’s diplomatic isolation was there for all to see and should it take belligerent action in the ADIZ, its position would further slide downwards. It is in this context that China just might agree to Vice-President Biden’s pleas to enter into negotiations with Japan and South Korea on this issue or even tone down its strident position. How China manages the ADIZ in the future will to a large extent determine the outcome of the stand-off between China and Japan.
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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

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Jaishankar Ends Term in Beijing - Ananth Krishnan, The Hindu
When S. Jaishankar steps down as India’s Ambassador to China on Saturday after a four-and- a-half year term, he will end his eventful tenure as the longest serving Indian envoy to the Middle Kingdom.

Mr. Jaishankar will be succeeded by Ashok Kantha, currently Secretary (East) in the Ministry of External Affairs, former High Commissioner to Sri Lanka and a Mandarin-speaking career diplomat.

Mr. Jaishankar, who will now serve as India’s Ambassador in Washington, oversaw a term that was marked by a dual track approach to ties with China: on the one hand, this involved aggressively pushing business links – not only to further Indian interest but also aimed at building new kinds of “leverage” with Beijing – and also, at the same time, conveying a tougher message on “core interests.”

At an event here last week to mark his departure, hosted by executives of leading China-based Indian companies, Mr. Jaishankar spoke of how one of his objectives was to bring business issues into the centrepiece of India’s engagement with China.

Yet that endeavour remains more of a beginning rather than a fulfilled objective, with the deficit continuing to widen this year, and no tangible progress on the market access front. One area of some forward movement was boosting mutual investments, with notable deals, including a $ 400 million agreement signed by energy company TBEA for a plant in Gujarat. Trade issues have, however, been moved to the top of India's agenda – on a par with the boundary issue and concerns over transborder rivers.

New Delhi has sought to take a tougher line with Beijing with regard to “core concerns” such as the border. That approach seemed to work on two issues of discord that strained ties over the past four years: China’s issuing of stapled visas to Indian citizens residing in Jammu and Kashmir, and the stand-off in Depsang sparked by Chinese troops putting up a tent in disputed territory.

In Depsang, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) withdrew after India made clear that the May visit by newly appointed Premier Li Keqiang – his first overseas visit – was put in doubt by the standoff. China has, for its part, appeared more willing to keep relations with India stable, amid heightened disputes with Japan.

One Chinese official said Mr. Jaishankar had garnered a reputation for “straight talking”, particularly during often tense exchanges over issues over China’s visa policy or the boundary. During talks with visiting Defence Minister A.K. Antony, Defence Minister and PLA General Chang Wanquan broke from the script by singling out his role in helping defuse the Depsang stand-off, saying he spoke “like a soldier more than a diplomat,” according to one official who was in the room.

“These years we faced some troubles, but I think the Ambassador played a constructive role in helping address them and building the relationship,” said Ma Jiali, a senior South Asia scholar with the China Reform Forum, affiliated with the Communist Party’s Central Party School.

Beyond the challenge of finding the most effective ways to convey New Delhi’s stance, “the main challenge, then as now, is to reflect the domestic developments faithfully to headquarters to enable better understanding,” said former Ambassador C.V. Ranganathan, who, before Mr. Jaishankar, was India’s longest serving envoy in Beijing – from 1987 to 1991.

Mr. Ranganathan arrived in Beijing in the midst of a border stand-off of a far more serious nature than Depsang – a troop build-up in 1987 that led many countries to think a second war was imminent.

Mr. Ranganathan said his talks with Chinese officials at the time, most significantly with the then Vice Minister Liu Shuqing, gave him the impression that war was not the likely outcome. “Chinese officials stressed they were keen for Rajiv Gandhi to visit,” he said, with Liu travelling to New Delhi in 1987 and putting forward an oral invitation.

Twenty-five years on following Rajiv Gandhi's 1988 visit, which marked a thaw in ties, Mr. Ranganathan said relations had assumed “a multidimensional character.” “The particular template, following Rajiv Gandhi’s 1988 visit, to improve relations in all fields while trying to solve the boundary question, has taken off in a big way,” he said.

“The challenge now,” he continued, “is that the many laudable declarations at a high level have to be translated into action.”

“Then, the China-Pakistan relationship needed to be studied very closely. Today, the development of the Afghanistan-Pakistan situation is also very important,” he said adding, “We require a cooperative framework on regional security, which should be a high priority. Overall, I would say ties are on the right track.”
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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

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Amid Tension, South Korea & Japan Hold East China Sea Drills - Ananth Krishnan, The Hindu
South Korea and Japan have carried out a naval drill in the East China Sea, deploying destroyers and maritime helicopters in a region where both countries are involved in a dispute with China.

A biennial naval drill took place in a part of the sea that lies within China’s newly established Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ).

While officials said the drill had been planned before China’s November 23 announcement, both countries have appeared to signal that they will not follow China’s regulations by deploying helicopters without filing flight plans with China.

The drill took place near the Leodo reef, which is controlled by South Korea but lies within the exclusive economic zones of China and South Korea. The area also falls within both Chinese and South Korean air defence zones, which are not territorial claims but a defined airspace within which countries track aircraft heading towards their territory.

Both countries “did not submit flight plans to the Chinese authority based on their principle not to recognise the zone,” the Seoul-based Yonhap news agency reported.

China on Thursday reiterated that it viewed its moves as “just, reasonable and comply[ing] with international practices,” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hong Lei told reporters.

While China has hit out at Japan’s criticism of the zone, pointing out that Tokyo had established a bigger ADIZ in 1969, it has taken a more measured reaction to South Korean concerns.

On Thursday, two South Korean airlines said they had begun complying with Beijing’s requests to file flight plans, despite its government’s official opposition to the setting up of the ADIZ. Japanese airlines initially filed flight plans, but stopped doing so subsequently in accordance with Tokyo’s official position.

China has said it would deploy “emergency” defensive measures if aircraft entered the zone without filing plans. Civilian and other aircraft that were not seen as posing a threat would merely be “identified” and “tracked”.
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Malaysia's Najib and Abe Discuss Chinese ADIZ - Japan Times
Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, during talks Thursday with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, showed his “understanding” of Japan’s deep concern over China’s newly declared air defense identification zone in the East China Sea, a Japanese official who attended the meeting said.

Najib and Abe met ahead of special sessions of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that will start Saturday in Tokyo.

Abe plans to have bilateral meetings with the leaders of all 10 ASEAN countries from Thursday through Sunday.

He is expected to try to garner support to keep China in check by emphasizing Beijing may set a similar ADIZ in the South China Sea, which is partly surrounded by ASEAN countries.

During the 45-minute meeting with Najib in the prime minister’s office, Abe claimed China is unilaterally trying to change the status quo in the East and South China Seas, and Tokyo will not accept such a move, according to the official who briefed reporters.

Beijing may set a similar air defense zone over other areas, which could have a dramatic impact on ASEAN, Abe reportedly told Najib.

In response, Najib acknowledged Abe’s concerns and said ASEAN should deal with diplomatic rows over territories in the South China Sea through a “multilateral” approach, not bilateral ones, according to the official.

Japan hopes to cooperate with Malaysia to secure freedom of navigation and flights over the high seas, Abe was quoted as saying.

Najib told Abe that ASEAN “will work together as one” to seek peaceful solutions over disputes in the South China Sea, according to the Japanese official. {This is important because China has been trying to split the usual ASEAN unanimity as well as deal bilaterally with each member state}


Among the 10 ASEAN countries, Laos and Cambodia have maintained relatively close relations with China, while Beijing’s ties with Vietnam and the Philippines are strained over territorial rows in the South China Sea.

How those leaders comment on their relations with China will be a focus of public attention in the Tokyo gathering.

In addition to the ASEAN session Saturday, Abe plans to have one-on-one meetings with the leaders of Brunei, the Philippines, Indonesia and Singapore on Friday, and the leaders of Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia on Sunday.
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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

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Sat, Dec 07, 2013

Fighting China’s imperialist aims

By Wu Hui-lin 吳惠林
The controversy over the cross-strait service trade agreement mostly stems from the question of whether Taiwan will be completely occupied by China once the agreement is approved.
The book China’s Silent Army by Juan Pablo Cardenal and Heriberto Araujo recently published in Taiwan may have the answer. The Chinese translation of the title is “China is Quietly Occupying the Whole World” (中國悄悄占領全世界). Jointly written by two Spanish journalists who spent two years conducting more than 500 interviews in 25 countries, the book uncovers the ugliness of communist China as it quietly occupies the entire world.
The two authors found that from natural gas fields in Central Asia’s Turkmenistan and Middle Eastern bazaars in Dubai to mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Central Africa, the Chinese are everywhere, grabbing resources from customers and from the surface of the planet.

Chinese products and manpower are changing the way global business operates, and Chinese businesspeople are not only occupying the busiest streets in Dakar, the capital of Senegal, but also forests and jade mines in Myanmar.
A miner in Peru said that he felt that he was living in a Chinese colony because a Chinese state-owned company had bought both the mine where he works and the town where he lives. Chinese companies are also bringing Chinese workers to Africa, while abusing local workers and damaging local environments. They are colluding with greedy local authorities to gain an advantage by trick or by force.
We know that China is boosting its economy by exploiting workers and lowering wages, and its cheap products are causing global deflation. Many countries are discontented with this, and boycotts, retaliations and riots often occur. For example, local residents burnt down a Chinese-owned shoe warehouse in Elche, Spain, in September 2004. At that time, there were dozens of Chinese-owned shoe stores in Elche, which had forced local stores to close down and meant that the unemployment rate among shoemakers in the city rose as high as 30 percent. Shoemakers’ jobs were in danger and since their protests were also led by people with ulterior motives, they turned into frightening riots.
Apart from Spain, even the US, the world’s most powerful economy, is threatened by cheap Chinese goods. How is it threatened by the rising Chinese economy? There is a clear description in the 2011 book Death by China by Peter Navarro. According to the book, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has employed every possible means — from protectionism, exchange rate manipulation and cyberattacks to espionage activities — to attack every front line. In addition, the CCP has made every effort to gain resources worldwide, even at the cost of supporting the most dangerous regimes and engaging in the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
In the US, some people were injured or killed by dangerous goods imported from China, including toxic food, toys and contaminated medicine. At the same time, many large US enterprises are allying themselves with Chinese state-owned businesses, thus contributing to the destruction of the US manufacturing industry.
Communist China, under the leadership of the CCP’s “party-state capitalism,” is reaching its dirty hands into every corner of the world. Will Taiwan really be able to escape, if only by sheer luck?

As China’s Silent Army mentions, late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平), who launched China’s economic reforms, gave a speech to the UN General Assembly on April 10, 1974. In the speech, he promised that “China is not a superpower, nor will she ever seek to be one... If one day China should change her color and turn into a superpower, if she too should play the tyrant in the world, and everywhere subject others to her bullying, aggression and exploitation, the people of the world should identify her as social-imperialist, expose it, oppose it and work together with the Chinese people to overthrow it.”
This quote tells us that Deng’s successors have broken his promise, and this book was written in response to Deng’s statement and to expose China’s ambition. Should the whole world not also follow Deng’s statement and oppose Beijing while working together with the Chinese people to overthrow the Beijing government?
Wu Hui-lin is a researcher at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research.

Translated by Eddy Chang

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/editori ... 2003578467
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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

Post by SSridhar »

Surasena wrote: Fighting China’s imperialist aims

By Wu Hui-lin 吳惠林
As China’s Silent Army mentions, late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平), who launched China’s economic reforms, gave a speech to the UN General Assembly on April 10, 1974. In the speech, he promised that “China is not a superpower, nor will she ever seek to be one... If one day China should change her color and turn into a superpower, if she too should play the tyrant in the world, and everywhere subject others to her bullying, aggression and exploitation, the people of the world should identify her as social-imperialist, expose it, oppose it and work together with the Chinese people to overthrow it.”
This quote tells us that Deng’s successors have broken his promise, . . .


That Deng Xiao Ping's statement itself was pure deception and unalloyed rhetoric. The successors of Deng have therefore no guilt associated with them.
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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

Post by eklavya »

FT:

US naval near-miss in South China Sea adds to tensions
Last updated: December 14, 2013 2:06 pm
US naval near-miss in South China Sea adds to tensions
By Geoff Dyer in Washington

Japan and Southeast Asian countries called for freedom of the air and sea on Saturday, after the US revealed that one of its warships had been involved in a confrontation with a Chinese naval vessel in the South China Sea.

The US Navy said on Friday that the USS Cowpens, a guided-missile cruiser, had been forced to take evasive action to avoid a collision with a ship from the People’s Liberation Army Navy on December 5, the latest incident to add to the growing military tensions in the western Pacific.

The US Pacific fleet said that the Cowpens had been “lawfully operating in international waters” when the near collision took place. “This incident underscores the need to ensure the highest standards of professional seamanship, including communications between vessels, to mitigate the risk of an unintended incident or mishap,” it said in a statement.

Officials at the Chinese embassy in Washington were not immediately available to comment.

The incident took place during the international furore over the Chinese announcement in late November of an air defence zone in the East China Sea, which angered the US and several of China’s neighbours. US vice-president Joe Biden was in Beijing on the day of the new incident, which was first reported by the Washington Free Beacon.

It forms part of a broader picture of sharpening military competition between China and the US in the western Pacific, an area that has been largely dominated by the US navy since the end of the second world war.

Over the past year, China has also been involved in a tense test of wills with Japan over a group of contested islands in the East China Sea.

While the idea of a military confrontation between the US and China remains only a very distant possibility, officials are worried that an individual act of brinkmanship or a miscalculation could provoke a dangerous incident.

The US and Chinese navies were involved in another potentially risky stand-off in 2009 when a Chinese naval vessel and aircraft approached the USNS Impeccable, a surveillance ship that had been monitoring submarine activity in the South China Sea not far from China’s new submarine base on Hainan island.

In 2001 a US surveillance aircraft collided with a Chinese fighter jet and was forced to make an emergency landing, also on Hainan island. The 24 members of the US crew were detained for 10 days.

China has invested heavily in its navy over the last two decades, partly to try to exert greater control over the seas that surround it which include vital maritime supply routes. In the process, China has also pushed back against what it sees as aggressive US surveillance activities near its coast.

The US navy said the Cowpens had taken part in the relief operations in the Philippines following the devastating typhoon last month.

The air defence identification zone China has established in the East China Sea is unjustly violating the freedom of aviation over the high seas
- Shinzo Abe, Japanese Prime Minister

A former Pentagon official said the vessel had then been operating near an area of the South China Sea where China’s new aircraft carrier had been taking part in exercises.

As well as being angered at possible US efforts to monitor the aircraft carrier, the former official said that China might also have been registering its displeasure at the fact that two B-52 bombers had flown through China’s new air zone a week earlier in order to show that the US did not recognise the new Chinese rules.

The Pentagon has said that it is eager to establish procedures with the Chinese military about how to deal with such incidents, including the sorts of communications hotlines that were used to manage military tensions with the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed at a summit in Tokyo on the need for freedom of the high seas and skies and the peaceful resolution of disputes, Reuters reported.

The statement did not criticise China’s new air zone, which has triggered protests from Japan, United States and South Korea. Many ASEAN members have deep economic ties with China.

But Mr Abe minced no words at a later news conference. “The air defence identification zone China has established in the East China Sea is unjustly violating the freedom of aviation over the high seas, which is a general rule in international law. We are demanding China rescind all measures like this that unjustly violate the general rule,” Mr Abe said.
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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

Post by anupmisra »

SSridhar wrote:That Deng Xiao Ping's statement itself was pure deception and unalloyed rhetoric. The successors of Deng have therefore no guilt associated with them.
The Chinese dual utterances are aimed at two divergent audiences. The global audience that views everything that the Chinese do with suspicion, and the domestic audience that needs morale-boosters or to be kept in the dark for a little bit longer.
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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

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eklavya wrote:FT:
US naval near-miss in South China Sea adds to tensions
The US Navy said on Friday that the USS Cowpens, a guided-missile cruiser, had been forced to take evasive action to avoid a collision with a ship from the People’s Liberation Army Navy on December 5, the latest incident to add to the growing military tensions in the western Pacific.

The US Pacific fleet said that the Cowpens had been “lawfully operating in international waters” when the near collision took place.
That reminds me of the 2001 incident involving PLAAF and USAF sigint plane when the Chinese plane hit the USAF plane through a reckless manouevere.
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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

Post by Pratyush »

The PRC seems hell bent in driving the rim pac nations into the US arms by becoming a clear and present threat to them. Do they realise what they are doing.

Or they know what they are doing and are thinkimg that the US is weak and can abandon its alies when put under pressure.
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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

Post by DavidD »

Pratyush wrote:The PRC seems hell bent in driving the rim pac nations into the US arms by becoming a clear and present threat to them. Do they realise what they are doing.

Or they know what they are doing and are thinkimg that the US is weak and can abandon its alies when put under pressure.
There is only one way for China to become the dominant power in the Western Pacific, and that is to dominate the Western Pacific. There is only one possible response from the current powers of the Western Pacific, and that is to resist Chinese domination.

Some of you act as if there are alternatives to this scenario.
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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

Post by Samudragupta »

DavidD wrote:
Pratyush wrote:The PRC seems hell bent in driving the rim pac nations into the US arms by becoming a clear and present threat to them. Do they realise what they are doing.

Or they know what they are doing and are thinkimg that the US is weak and can abandon its alies when put under pressure.
There is only one way for China to become the dominant power in the Western Pacific, and that is to dominate the Western Pacific. There is only one possible response from the current powers of the Western Pacific, and that is to resist Chinese domination.

Some of you act as if there are alternatives to this scenario.
There is always third option...when another third power..kicks out both the current and wannabe dominant WP power from the region...its only the paranoid CPC which thinks in this line of dominating its neigbourhood
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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

Post by JE Menon »

^^its not only the Cpc which thinks this way. It is only the Cpc which shows it's hand this way may be a more accurate statement...

But it's early days yet...
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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

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Alright, listen up now, don't say any more bad things about China's ADIZ, or uncle Xi will get rather cross and accuse us of 'maliciously slandering' them, like they're doing with Japanese PM Abe now:
China condemns Abe for criticizing air defense zone
China has condemned Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for "maliciously slandering" its air defense zone in an escalating war of words between the neighbors.

Abe told a news conference on Saturday that China's recent announcement of the air defense identification zone over disputed islands in the East China Sea is "unjustly violating the freedom of aviation over the high seas" and demanded Beijing rescind it.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei defended the zone, which has triggered protests from Japan, the United States and South Korea.

"We express strong dissatisfaction with Japan's leader using an international occasion to maliciously slander China," Hong said in a statement seen on the ministry website on Sunday.
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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

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Chinese troops apprehend Indians in Chumar area of Ladakh
Dec 15, 2013, 07.16PM IST PTI

NEW DELHI: Chinese troops apprehended five Indian nationals in Chumar area of Ladakh well inside the Indian territory and took them to their side of the border, in perhaps the first such incident along the Line of Actual Control.

The five people were handed over to Indian side by the People's Liberation Army troops after efforts were in this regard under the existing border mechanisms between the two countries, sources told PTI here.

The five Indian nationals along with their cattle were apprehended by the PLA troops around few kms inside the Indian territory in Chumar area and were taken to their camp across the LAC in an apparent bid to stake their claim on the area, they said.

The Army Headquarters sought to play down the incident saying that the matter was resolved "amicably" but sources said the Chinese side relented only after the local Indian Army authorities sought a flag meeting on the matter and warned that the the issue would be raised at a higher level.

It is learnt that the local Army authorities on both sides established communication on the issue, they said.

The incident has come after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed the Border Defence Cooperation Agreement with China in October seeking to prevent any flare ups between the armies of the two countries on the LAC.

Defence minister AK Antony had recently warned that the new border pact does not guarantee that nothing will happen in these areas in future.

Chumar has been one of the most active areas on the LAC in terms of transgressions by the Chinese troops.

Located 300km from Leh, it has always been an area of discomfort for the Chinese troops as this is the only place along the China-India border where they do not have any direct access to the LAC.

http://m.timesofindia.com/india/Chinese ... 431921.cms
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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

Post by Pratyush »

Suraj wrote:Alright, listen up now, don't say any more bad things about China's ADIZ, or uncle Xi will get rather cross and accuse us of 'maliciously slandering' them, like they're doing with Japanese PM Abe now:
China condemns Abe for criticizing air defense zone
My konfused mind has a question.

Do the bakies lern from china or the Chinese learn from the bakies
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Re: One More Incident in Chumar, Ladakh

Post by SSridhar »

Chinese Troops Apprehend Indians in Chumar - The Hindu
Chinese troops apprehended five Indian nationals in the Chumar area of Ladakh, well inside the Indian territory, and took them to their side of the border — perhaps the first incident of this kind along the Line of Actual Control.

The five Indian nationals, along with their cattle, were apprehended by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) troops last week, a few kms within the Indian territory, and were taken to the PLA’s camp across the LAC in an apparent bid to stake their claim on the area, sources said.

The five nationals were handed over to the Indian side by the PLA troops, after some efforts were made in this regard under the existing border mechanisms between the two countries, they added.

The Army Headquarters sought to play down the incident saying the matter was resolved “amicably”, but sources said the Chinese side relented only after Indian Army authorities sought a flag meeting on the matter and warned that the issue would be raised at a higher level.

The headquarters also said that the detained Indian nationals were not army porters as was being speculated, but were civilians.

The incident has taken place after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed the Border Defence Cooperation Agreement with China in October, seeking to prevent any flare-ups between the armies of the two countries on the LAC. Defence Minister A.K. Antony recently warned that the new border pact does not guarantee that nothing would happen in these areas in the future.

Transgressions by the Chinese troops have taken place often in Chumar, the only place along the Indo-China border where the Chinese do not have any direct access to the LAC. — PTI
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Re: The Tale So Far at Chumar

Post by SSridhar »

The above report talks of the incident being settled 'amicably'. I was reminded inconveniently of a similar 'amicable sttelement in DBO in June this year.

A few days after the 'amicable' settlement in DBO, a fresh row erupted on June 17 in the same sector, this time in Chumar, South Ladakh. This incident happened two weeks before defence minister A.K.Antony’s official visit to Beijing, the first by an Indian defence minister in seven years. The PLA took away a high resolution camera and when India protested, the Chinese returned the non-functional camera on June 19th. This is the same place where the Indian Army had built a temporary tin shed after the Chinese set up camps in Depsang, dismantling which was cited as a pre-requisite by the PLA to withdraw from Depsang. A few days after the camera incident, two Chinese PLA helicopters intruded into Indian airspace in the same sector on a reconnaissance mission. Then, on June 17, 2013, about 50 Chinese troops on horses and ponies intruded into the same Chumar region in Ladakh and after the usual banner drill between the two sides, the PLA patrol went back into their territory. Sources said the intruding Chinese soldiers asked the Indian soldiers to vacate the area claiming that they were standing in Chinese territory. Again, in the first week of August 2013, aggressive Chinese Army troops in the Chumar area, stopped ITBP from patrolling inside the Indian territory claiming that it was Chinese area. And now, we have this incident. This was the first incident after India signed BDCA with China in October, 2013. In August 2013, India came to the conclusion that Chinese actions were to prevent Indian patrols from patrolling their normal perception of the LAC. In a report prepared by Shyam Saran, the Chairperson of the National Security Advisory Board (NSAB), it was said that the restricted border patrol area has become the new LAC for the Indian troops in the Ladakh sector.

A very pathetic state of affairs.
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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

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Riot in Xinjiang: 16 dead - ToI
Police in China's restive far western region of Xinjiang shot dead 14 people during a riot late on Sunday in which two policemen were also killed, the regional government said on Monday.

Police were attacked by a mob throwing explosive devices and wielding knives when they went to arrest "criminal suspects" in a village near the old Silk Road city of Kashgar, the government said on its official news portal Tianshan.
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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

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Japan, Asean Pledge to Work More Closely Together
Conclude Weekend Summit at Which Regional Security Was a Major Undercurrent

By TOKO SEKIGUCHI and YOSHIO TAKAHASHI CONNECT
Updated Dec. 15, 2013 11:52 a.m. ET

TOKYO—Japan and Southeast Asian nations signaled they are ready to work more closely together in the face of an increasingly assertive China, as their leaders met for a weekend summit in which concern about regional security was a major undercurrent.

But in a sign of the delicate balancing act that leaders face as they navigate the turbulent relationship between the region's two biggest powers, the gathering ended on Saturday with a joint statement that didn't mention China or its declaration of an air-defense identification zone over territory in the East China Sea that is also claimed by Japan.

In the statement, countries pledged to work together to "ensure the freedom of overflight and civil aviation safety''—in what appeared to be a veiled criticism of China's move.

The summit between the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Japan had been watched for any signs that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was succeeding in rallying support for a united front against China.

On Sunday, Japan suggested it might help with a struggling development project in Myanmar—which is seeking to rely less on China and which Japan is trying to woo with investment.

Japan also made a new promise to give patrol vessels to Vietnam. It has already pledged similar vessels to the Philippines.


Both countries have territorial disputes with China over islands in the South China Sea.

"As China continues to push the envelope…it is clearly moving Asean to a more-unified voice to oppose these actions and increasing Asean's willingness to deepen ties with countries like Japan, India and the United States,'' said Ernest Bower, senior adviser and Southeast Asia expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

Underscoring the tension in the region, a U.S. Navy warship last week narrowly avoided a collision with a Chinese naval vessel when the Chinese vessel unexpectedly crossed in front of the U.S. ship's bow, U.S. military officials said Saturday.

The incident was resolved quickly but Pentagon officials described the encounter as unusually tense.

In bilateral talks with Southeast Asian leaders at the summit, Mr. Abe had presented China's move on the air-defense identification zone, or ADIZ, as an issue not only affecting Japan, nodding to tensions in the South China Sea.

But several of the countries have close ties with China and have benefited from Chinese aid. All all are wary of hurting economic ties with the world's No. 2 economy by appearing to side too strongly with Japan.

"The statement was a good compromise between Japan's earnestness to make an explicit reference to the ADIZ and Asean's unease with a stronger stance," said Tang Siew Mun, an expert on Asia security issues at the Institute of Strategic and International Studies in Malaysia.

"The statement, while consistent with Asean's advocacy on the rule of law, also sends a message to Beijing that Asean will not take kindly to the possible implementation of ADIZ in the South China Sea."


Most individual Asean members, too, were oblique in referring to their territorial spats with China.

Japan and Vietnam agreed that it was vital to secure maritime and aviation safety and freedom, "within a framework of international and maritime law,'' said Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, in a joint news conference with Mr. Abe on Sunday.


Recent Asean meetings have failed to produce a cohesive stance over the South China Sea, with Cambodia, a close Beijing ally, accused by others of being obstructive. Asean comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

On Sunday, Cambodia spoke up for China, too, with Prime Minister Hun Sen telling Mr. Abe he was pleased to hear Japan was making efforts to improve its relationship with China, according to a briefing after the two met.


Japan pledged ¥2 trillion (about $20 billion) in aid and loans to Southeast Asian countries over the next five years at the Tokyo meeting.

Separately, Secretary of State John Kerry met was set to meet with leaders in Vietnam on Monday in an effort to improve trade and security ties between the former adversaries, highlighting U.S. interests in countering China's power in the region. The U.S. is Vietnam's second-largest trade partner after China.

Mr. Abe emphasized economic ties between Japan and Asean, saying that his "Abenomics" policies to promote Japanese growth will benefit Asean, and Asean growth is also beneficial to Japan. The two are each other's second-largest trading partners, after China.

But the weekend's gathering also underscored how regional security has come to play an important role in the relationship between Japan and Southeast Asian countries, which had historically centered on economic development, said Ken Jimbo, associate professor in the faculty of policy management at Japan's Keio University.

Mr. Abecalled for a Japan-Asean defense-minister meeting to strengthen ties for "nontraditional security matters" like disaster relief. The statement said the countries discussed Mr. Abe's new security policy that aims to expand the role of Japan's Self Defense Force in international peacekeeping. "The Asean leaders looked forward to Japan's efforts," it said.The countries also reaffirmed a pledge to "resolve disputes by peaceful means in accordance with universally recognized principles of international law," the statement said. Mr. Abe reiterated criticism of China's ADIZ in a news conference on Saturday evening, saying it "unjustly violates the freedom of flight."

"There are moves in the South China Sea and the East China Sea that appear to be unilateral challenges to the status quo," he added. "No one benefits from heightened tensions in the region."

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei called Mr. Abe's remarks on the zone "malicious slander,'' and stressed that the zone wouldn't interfere with freedom of navigation.

Tokyo is "advancing a double standard and misleading international opinion," said Mr. Hong in a statement released on the ministry's website.

—Celine Fernandez in Kuala Lumpur contributed to this article.

Write to Toko Sekiguchi at toko.sekiguchi@wsj.com and Yoshio Takahashi at yoshio.takahashi@wsj.com

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1 ... 1798199724
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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

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China Says US Cruiser was a Threat - Japan Times
A U.S. warship that was forced to maneuver 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 guided missile cruiser USS Cowpens 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 Dec. 5, insisting 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 U.S. should learn to communicate with and respect China if it doesn’t want a collision on the sea or in the air.”

The standoff underscored tensions that escalated after Beijing last month declared an expanded “air defense identification zone” in the East China Sea.

U.S. naval officers and defense officials said last week that the Chinese ship had crossed directly in front of the Cowpens and halted less than 500 meters 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 U.S. “was tailing after and harassing” China’s aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, which was conducting drills in the area, and that the USS Cowpens had come within 45 km of the “inner defense layer of the Chinese fleet.”

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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

Post by Prem »

Japan to boost military spending and preperation
http://prairiepundit.blogspot.com/2013/ ... g-and.html
The government of conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will approve rules intended to help air, land and sea forces work together more effectively in the face of danger, an official from Abe’s Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) told AFP.
The move comes amid the continuing row between China and Japan over the sovereignty of a small island chain in the East China Sea, a dispute that has escalated over the last year to include military hardware from both sides.

Lawmakers from the ruling bloc on Wednesday endorsed the plan, which would create what it called a “Dynamic Joint Defence Force”, the official said.For the first time, we will be able to obtain mobility, or the capability to deploy swiftly in an integrated manner,” Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said Thursday.“When we deploy troops to remote islands… we need to respond with ground, marine and air defence forces,” Onodera said in a speech at a private think tank in Tokyo.“Or if we faced a North Korean missile, Japan would first attempt to shoot it down from the sea, then from the ground..There is more. I think they are talking about more than a combined arms operation, however a combined arms response has teh greatest chance of success because it creates a dilemma for adversaries In most cases the party with a combined arms attack wins from ancient times to today.
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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

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Japan Tells China to Accept World's Concerns over its ADIZ - Business Line
Japan called on China today to see “reality” and “accept” there are widespread international concerns over Beijing’s controversial air defence zone.

The comment by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s right-hand man came after China singled out Japan for criticism when 11 Asian countries stressed the importance of freedom of overflight at a summit in Tokyo, in a move seen as targeting Beijing.

“We think China should see the reality that many countries in the international community share concerns about the Air Defence Identification Zone and seriously accept it,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a regular briefing.


A joint statement by Japan and leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), “agreed to enhance cooperation in ensuring freedom of overflight and civil aviation safety”.

While the statement did not name China, it was seen as a clear rebuke for Beijing
, which has sovereignty disputes with Japan and with four members of the economic bloc, and which has been repeatedly accused of intimidation and coercion.

China has denounced as “slanderous” remarks by Abe at the weekend summit calling for Beijing to rescind its air zone, which was widely criticised as increasing regional tensions.

The US, Japan and South Korea have accused China of unilaterally changing the status quo by declaring an air defence zone in the East China Sea last month, in which it wants all aircraft to obey its orders.

The zone covers territory that is at the centre of separate disputes with Japan and South Korea.

Some analysts fear the ADIZ in the East China Sea is a forerunner to a similar zone in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost in its entirety.
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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

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Porters were not Forcibly Taken Away, says Indian Army - The Hindu
The Indian Army on Monday denied that Chinese troops entered India in the Chumar area of Ladakh on December 4 and forcibly took away five porters and their mules. Reports in the media stated that the porters and animals were taken by the People’s Liberation Army in Chumar, along the Line of Actual Control, and released a week later on December 11.

The Army said: “Three Indians crossed the international border {where is this IB ?} to retrieve their horses that had strayed across the border at Chumar. They were apprehended by the Chinese and returned after a flag meeting.”

The Army sources said the Indian nationals were apprehended by the Chinese only after they crossed the border. However, they were returned during the flag meeting at the Spangur Chinese BPM Hut on December 11.
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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

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Pact Helped Defuse Tension in Ladakh: Antony - The Hindu
Defence Minister A.K. Antony gave the recently-signed Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA) the credit for quickly defusing the situation in Ladakh on the border with China.

“Don’t expect miracles in resolving the issue. What we are trying is that till a satisfactory solution on the boundary issue is found, whenever incidents take place on the border, through discussions and official mechanism, [we will] resolve those issues. Of late, we have been able to resolve issues without much delay. That is an improvement,’’ he said here on Monday, hours after China returned two Indians it had taken into captivity.

Speaking on the sidelines of the Vijay Diwas function, he said: “After the agreement, by and large, whenever any issue arises, we are able to resolve it as quickly as possible. It does not mean that there would not be any issue as long as the India-China border issue is unsettled. There can always be possibility.” According to officials, a flag meeting was quickly organised and the PLA returned the two men who had apparently crossed over to the Chinese perception of the LAC to recover cattle. They said transgression to the other side of the LAC by cattle including even Yaks happen in both the eastern and western sectors, generally during snowstorms. Sometimes, the other side doesn’t bother, letting livestock breeders retrieve their cattle but make it a point to show the photographic evidence at the next border meeting. Often the cattle can’t be found and after the other side is told about it, efforts are made to locate and return it.

Mr. Antony said no miracles should be expected from the boundary resolution talks between the special representatives but this dialogue had led to both sides resolving to maintain peace and tranquillity on the border.
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Defense Outlays to be Hiked 5% Amid China Threat - Japan Times
The Abe administration said Tuesday it intends to boost military spending by 5 percent over the next five years, including a hardware splurge that will beef up defense of far-flung islands amid the Senkaku row with China.

The Cabinet of hawkish Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed that ¥24.7 trillion will be spent between 2014 and 2019, including on drones, subs, fighter jets and amphibious vehicles, in a strategic shift toward the south and west.

The shopping list is part of efforts by Abe to “normalize” the Self-Defense Forces as a military. Under the officially pacifist nature of Japan since World War II, the well-equipped and highly professional SDF is limited to a narrowly defined defensive role.

The spending upgrade comes with the establishment of the U.S.-style National Security Council that is expected to concentrate greater power in the hands of a smaller number of senior politicians and bureaucrats.

Japan is growing more fearful over the rising power of China and the perennial menace posed by unpredictable North Korea.

Under the new defense guidelines approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday, a “dynamic joint defense force” will be created, intended to help air, land and sea forces work together more effectively.

“China . . . is taking dangerous action that could draw unexpected contingencies,” the guidelines state.

Under the midterm defense program, spending will be raised to ¥24.7 trillion over the five years starting next April, up from the present ¥23.5 trillion over the five years to March 31.

However, this figure may be trimmed by up to ¥700 billion if the Defense Ministry can take “effective and rational” measures in its procurement.

New hardware is to include three drones, 52 amphibious vehicles, 17 Osprey transport aircraft and five submarines — all designed to boost maritime surveillance and bolster island defense.

It will also mean two destroyers equipped with the Aegis anti-missile system and 28 F-35 fighter jets, a stealth plane that is expected to be far superior to the F-15s that Japan currently has in service.

“The guidelines underscore a clear shift of Japan’s major defense 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, the SDF was largely static, with the majority of resources in the north and east to guard against a Soviet invasion.

Changing dynamics and in particular the rise of China — where double-digit rises in defense spending are the annual norm — mean the SDF’s resources need to be located farther south and to be able to deploy to the country’s many far-flung islands.

“The guidelines show Japan’s readiness for practical defense 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 defense identification zone over the East China Sea, including over the disputed Senkaku Islands.

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 missile defenses to be boosted to counter “a grave and imminent threat” from North Korea.
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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

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Again China is not military threat and by focussing on a military response Japan is not doing itself any good.
Its like the run up to WWI that is being put in place in East Asia.
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ramana wrote:Again China is not military threat and by focussing on a military response Japan is not doing itself any good.
Its like the run up to WWI that is being put in place in East Asia.
Dunno how you have deduced that China is not a military threat or if Japan is foucussing on a military response. Policies are made keeping the future in mind. China may not be a military threat today but it could be 10, 20 years down the line. Japan wouldnt be buying stuff and upgrading then. Would it?.. Besides giving a little teeth to your purely defensive forces could never be so wrong.
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Abe Calls Military Plan 'Proactive Pacifism' - Martin Fackler, The Hindu

:rotfl: Proactive Pacifism !
Taking Japan a step further from its post-war pacifism, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe approved a new five-year defence plan on Tuesday that calls for the acquisition of drones and amphibious assault vehicles to strengthen the nation’s military as it faces the prospect of a prolonged rivalry with China over islands in the East China Sea.

While Mr. Abe described the spending plan as “proactive pacifism”, it continues a trend started this year when Mr. Abe began to reverse a decade of military cuts to help offset China’s rapid military build-up and the relative decline of U.S. influence in the region.

He is building on moves by previous Prime Ministers to inch Japan toward what many here call a more “normal” nation that can defend itself. While Mr. Abe, an outspoken conservative, has long wanted to wean the country from what he and other nationalists consider excessive pacifism and an unhealthy negativity about its World War II-era past, the tensions with China have made a sceptical public more willing to accept an expanded military.

The spending plan was approved by the Cabinet in tandem with a new 10-year defence strategy and a broader national security strategy that call for Japan to create a more dynamic military force, loosen self-imposed restrictions on exporting weapons, and nurture a stronger sense of patriotism among its citizens.

Under the new strategy, Japan will continue to build closer ties with the United States, whose 50,000 military personnel stationed here still form the basis of Japan’s national security. But it will also acquire weapons meant to increase its own capabilities — acquisitions that would have once been unthinkable for a nation that viewed its military with suspicion after its disastrous defeat in World War II.

Japan will “build a comprehensive defensive posture that can completely defend our nation”, according to the security strategy. “China is attempting to alter the status quo by force in the skies and seas of the East China Sea and South China Sea and other areas based on assertions that are incompatible with the established international order.”

Political analysts say that China’s assertive stance in the dispute over the East China Sea islands has made Japan’s once proudly pacifist public more willing to accept an expanded role for the nation’s military, called the Self-Defense Forces. China’s claims in the South China Sea have also put it at odds with several countries in Southeast Asia that say they own some of the territory in question. The spending plan announced on Tuesday will raise the military budget by 1.2 trillion yen, or $11.7 billion, over the next five years, to about 24.7 trillion yen. While that is an increase of almost five per cent, it is still far below the annual double-digit increases in China’s military spending.

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Japan had the fifth-largest military budget in the world last year. China had the second largest, behind the United States.

The 10-year military strategy approved on Tuesday calls on Japan to create a more mobile military that can deal with contingencies on far-flung islands, as well as so-called gray zone conflicts that might involve small numbers of terrorists or paramilitary attackers. It maintains the army’s current troop level of about 160,000, reversing earlier plans to reduce that number.

The strategy also calls on Japan to study whether it should buy or develop long-range strike capability, like cruise missiles, that would allow it to destroy a threat like a North Korean ballistic missile before it was launched.

Japan has so far eschewed such clearly offensive weapons in order to maintain the defensive nature of its military, whose existence already pushes the limits of a post-war constitution that bars the nation from possessing “land, sea and air forces, as well as other war potential”.

Mr. Abe wants to go even further by stretching the definition of self-defence to include action taken on behalf of allies under attack — for example, allowing Japan to shoot down a North Korean ballistic missile heading toward the United States. That doctrine, known as collective self-defence, has run into stiff public opposition, including from a small Buddhist political party within Mr. Abe’s governing coalition. — New York Times News Service
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Re: Managing Chinese Threat

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RS, China has economic power. Its military is a paper dragon. However it can launch a cyber attack and a Treasury sell attack that will tkae down everyone.
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China's ambitions cross bordesr - G.Parthasarathy, Business Line

The symbolism in Japanese Emperor Akihito’s visit to Delhi and India’s extraordinary gesture to it — Prime Minister Manmohan Singh personally received the Monarch — could not have passed unnoticed in Beijing and other Asian capitals.

The visit took place when Beijing was introducing unprecedented steps to declare large areas beyond its borders as an “Air Defence Identification Zone” (ADIZ), challenging sovereign rights of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan, over the islands and reefs they control.

Under its new notification, China asked all foreign powers to give prior notification of their aircraft — civilian and military — flying over their ADIZ, reinforced by the threat to scramble fighter aircraft to challenge any violations.

Extraordinary claims

These extraordinary measures, known to have taken years of internal discussions, were undertaken almost immediately after the Third Plenum of the Communist Party’s 18th Congress. The Plenum put the seal on President Xi Jinping’s virtually unchallenged leadership.

Apart from populist measures such as doing away with the one-child policy, eliminating repressive labour camps and providing relief to migrant labour, strong anti-corruption measures were promised, together with removing Government control over allocation of resources.

But perhaps the most significant announcement was the establishment of an Apex National Security Committee under President Xi, which would give him powers on national security issues, akin to those exercised by Deng Xiaoping.

Deng wielded these powers when China was weak economically and militarily and had to follow his wise advice: “Hide your strength and bide your time.”

The Deng era has been followed by an economically vibrant and militarily robust China flexing its muscles across its entire neighbourhood.

Having added an aircraft carrier to its fleet to project power, China intends to expand its reach across the Pacific and Indian oceans, defining its maritime frontiers unilaterally in the South China Sea under its “Nine-Dotted Line.”

It has militarily seized the Paracel islands from Vietnam and asserted claims of sovereignty on the Spratly Islands, overriding objections from the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam. It has used force to seize the Mischief Reef, located barely 51 km from the Philippines and 590 km from its Hainan Island. China’s extraordinary claims on its maritime borders do not conform to the provisions of the UN Convention of the Laws of the Seas.

China’s assertion of its ADIZ has been challenged by Japan, South Korea and Taiwan. The US has challenged its legality by sending unarmed B-52 bombers into the zone. But the US has asked its commercial aircraft to observe China’s requirements. Japan and South Korea have, however, refused to comply with Chinese demands. Chinese threats of over-flying the disputed Senkaku Islands have been met by Japan scrambling F-15 fighters.

The South Koreans proclaimed: “We expressed deep regret and reaffirmed our jurisdictional rights to the waters surrounding the (submerged rock) Leodo, would not be affected by neighbouring States’ air defence zones”.

The Chinese announcement of its ADIZ has exacerbated the existing disputes with South Korea over fishing rights in the Yellow Sea.

During his visits to Tokyo and Seoul, US Vice President Joe Biden expressed his solidarity with allies Japan and South Korea over China’s border claims. The US has also sent P-8 Poseidon Maritime Patrol aircraft to Japan.

China’s aim is clearly to get Japan to accept that the Senkaku Islands are disputed territories. According to the well-informed Hong Kong-based Asia Weekly, China sees its maritime boundary in the East China Sea as stretching from the Southernmost Japanese Island towards the East Coast of Taiwan and joining the South China Sea. China is now clearly seeking unchallenged access to the Pacific Ocean.

In 2009, the Commander of the US Pacific Fleet, Admiral Timothy Keating, told Indian interlocutors that one of his Chinese counterparts had suggested to him that when China acquired aircraft carriers, the US should leave maritime security responsibilities in the Western Pacific and Indian oceans to be handled by the Chinese navy, with the US confining itself to security of the Eastern Pacific.

Poor defence

Even as Japan and others facing security challenges from China are upgrading their defences, India’s defence spending this year has reached an estimated all-time low of 1.79 per cent of GDP. Even as the Chinese build up their communications networks across their borders with India and across Gilgit-Baltistan and Pakistan, our armed forces take days to reach the outer periphery of our borders.

The Indian army is woefully short of mountain artillery, the Air Force desperately needs Multi-Role Combat Aircraft and the navy is equipped with an aging and obsolescent submarine fleet.

Essential reforms to our archaic defence structures recommended by the Naresh Chandra Task Force around 18 months ago remain unimplemented. Sadly, South Block has no dearth of apologists for China’s policies who have even sought to downplay Chinese transgressions in Chumar in the Ladakh sector.

These continuing intrusions have crossed the Karakoram Range, the great watershed that separates China from the subcontinent. They have been accompanied by Chinese claims to the whole of Arunachal Pradesh, reiterated recently to protest the visit of President Pranab Mukherjee to the State.

P. Stopdan, who hails from Ladakh, recently voiced serious concern of Chinese ingress into the region.

After explaining how the Ladakh-Tibetan border was defined in the Ladakh-Tibet Treaty of Tingmosgang in 1684, Stopdan has dwelt on how Chinese territorial claims have grown in Ladakh ever since 1956. He has drawn attention to how China dealt with its borders with its Central Asian neighbours. He notes that China purports to give “concessions” without actually giving an inch of territory.

Adds Stopdan: “The Chinese will have a maximum claim and then they will settle for (what purports to be) the minimum territory. They will present it as a win-win situation to all parties, but in essence usurp what is far more than their legitimate claim”.

Referring to negotiations with Kazakhstan, Stopden notes: “After the Soviet Union collapsed, China settled for a third of the territories it claimed, the claim itself being maximalist with little basis”.

Overawed by the Chinese, the Kazakhs were forced to give assurances of non-interference from their soil and part with 60 per cent of their oil resources to the Chinese. China follows the advice of its Chanakya, Sun Tzu, who said: “To subdue the enemy without fighting is the supreme excellence”.

Our brilliant negotiators, forever apologetic about Chinese intrusions and claims, would be well advised to study Chanakya’s Arthashastra, on statecraft.

(The author is a former High Commissioner to Pakistan.)
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BCIM Corridor Gets Push After First Official-level Talks in China - Ananth Krishnan, The Hindu
India and China have taken the first step towards pushing forward an ambitious corridor linking the two countries with Bangladesh and Myanmar, as representatives from the four nations held the first ever official-level discussions about the project this week.

The four nations have for the first time drawn up a specific timetable on taking forward the long discussed plan, emphasising the need to quickly improve physical connectivity in the region, over two days of talks in the south-western Chinese city of Kunming – the provincial capital of Yunnan, which borders Myanmar – on Wednesday and Thursday.

The corridor, it was agreed, will run from Kunming to Kolkata, linking Mandalay in Myanmar as well as Dhaka and Chittagong in Bangladesh. The plan would “advance multi-modal connectivity, harness the economic complementarities, promote investment and trade and facilitate people-to-people contacts”, the four nations said following Thursday’s Joint Study Group session.

The BCIM project, which has been the subject of discussions and debates for more than a decade among scholars from the four countries, finally received official support earlier this year, highlighted as a key initiative during two meetings between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang, in New Delhi in May and in Beijing in October.

The Chinese have appeared to take the lead in pushing forward the corridor, choosing to highlight the proposal as a key outcome of Mr. Li’s visit to India – his first overseas trip as the new Premier.

China, officials say, sees the corridor as a platform to not only boost strategic ties with India, but also as a means to inject vitality into its landlocked southwestern provinces, which have the highest poverty rates in China.

In the months following Mr. Li’s visit to India and in the lead-up to Dr. Singh travelling to Beijing, both India and China held separate consultations with Bangladesh and Myanmar, agreeing to hold a first official meeting in China. India was represented at this week’s talks by Joint Secretary (East Asia) at the Ministry of External Affairs Gautam Bambawale, who was joined by the Deputy Planning Minister of Bangladesh, the Vice Chairman of China’s National Development and Reform Commission, and a senior economic affairs official from Myanmar.

To underline that no country will dominate the initiative, the four nations said the corridor will be taken forward on “the principles of mutual trust and respect, mutual interest, equitable sharing of mutual benefits”.

As a first step, the four countries will identify realistic and achievable infrastructure projects to boost physical connectivity.

Over the next six months, each country will come up with a joint study report proposing concrete projects and financing modalities, before the next meeting of the four nations in June 2014, hosted by Bangladesh.

The hope is that before the holding of the third joint study meeting, in India towards the end of 2014, the four countries will have agreed upon a cooperation framework – including modalities of financing projects – that will pave the way for on-the-ground work to begin.

This week’s talks saw the four countries come up with an ambitious proposal that included developing multi-modal transport, such as road, rail, waterways and airways, joint power projects and telecommunication networks.

Officials suggested that improving the road networks would likely be a first priority. Earlier this year, a first ever BCIM car rally was held between Kolkata and Kunming.

The corridor is likely to follow the rough route of the rally
, which served to highlight the inconsistent road conditions, especially in parts of Myanmar. Officials acknowledged that security concerns in parts of Myanmar were one likely obstacle, although representatives from the country also expressed optimism that this issue would, in time, be overcome.
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Ruling LDP Party wants to take the Japan-China gas field dispute to ICJ
The ruling Liberal Democratic Party proposed Friday that the issue of China potentially deciding to unilaterally develop natural gas fields in contested waters be taken to international tribunals.

An LDP task force asked the government to take the issue to the International Court of Justice or the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. The party is headed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

A group of politicians submitted the proposal to Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga when they met at the prime minister’s office, and the government’s top spokesman told a press conference later in the day that Tokyo will consider the idea “from a strategic perspective.”

The LDP task force said Japan should not accept attempts by Chinese state-run companies to develop seven new gas fields in the East China Sea, where the two countries have seen talks stall over joint development of other fields.

Beijing has repeatedly attempted to set up drilling facilities on its side of what Japan claims is the border of its exclusive economic zone, even though the undersea gas fields in the area could extend to Japan’s side.


The call by the task force comes amid escalating bilateral tensions in the East China Sea over the uninhabited Senkaku Islands that Japan has controlled for decades but are claimed by China as Diaoyu, and by Taiwan as Tiaoyutai. Beijing recently established an air defense identification zone over the area that overlaps with Japan’s.

The LDP lawmakers also said the government should enhance cooperation with the Philippines and Vietnam, which are engaged in territorial disputes with China in the South China Sea.
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