Peak Oil is You
Donate Bitcoins ;-) or Paypal :-)
Page added on December 13, 2012
China Flies Into Japanese Airspace For The First Time In History
Japan scrambled eight fighter jets on Thursday after a Chinese state-owned plane breached its airspace for the first time, over islands at the centre of a dispute between the countries.
It was the first incursion by a Chinese state aircraft into Japanese airspace anywhere since Tokyo’s military began monitoring in 1958, the defence ministry said.
The move marks a ramping-up of what observers suggest is a Chinese campaign to create a “new normal” — where its forces come and go as they please around islands Beijing calls the Diaoyus, but Tokyo controls as the Senkakus.
It also comes as ceremonies mark the sensitive 75th anniversary of the start of the Nanjing Massacre, when Japanese Imperial Army troops embarked on an orgy of violence and killing in the then-Chinese capital.
F-15 jets were mobilised after a Chinese Maritime Surveillance twin turbo-prop aircraft ventured over the islands just after 11 am (0200 GMT), Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told reporters.
“It was a fixed-wing Y-12 aeroplane belonging to the Chinese State Oceanic Administration. We confirmed that this aeroplane flew in our country’s airspace,” he said.
“It is extremely regrettable. We will continue to resolutely deal with any act violating our country’s sovereignty, in accordance with domestic laws and regulations,” he said, adding a senior Chinese diplomat had been summoned.
Japan mobilised eight F-15 jets and an E2C early-warning aircraft, the Asahi Shimbun reported, citing a defence ministry source. But the incident appeared to have passed off without any direct confrontation.
In Beijing, China’s foreign ministry said the flight had been routine.
“China’s maritime surveillance plane flying over the Diaoyu islands is completely normal,” said spokesman Hong Lei.
“China requires the Japanese side to stop illegal activities in the waters and airspace of the Diaoyu islands,” Hong said, adding they were “China’s inherent territory since ancient times”.
The incident came as Japan’s coastguard chief told reporters he was digging in for a protracted dispute.
“As China has publicly said it will make this a permanent situation, we are preparing to be better equipped for this long, drawn-out contest,” Takashi Kitamura, the commandant of Japan Coast Guard, told a news conference.
“Because we have various other responsibilities other than patrolling for border security, we are asking government to consider building up our capacity,” he said.
Chinese government ships have moved in and out of waters around the islands for more than two months — four vessels were there for several hours on Thursday.
Such confrontations have become commonplace since Japan nationalised the East China Sea islands in September, a move it insisted amounted to nothing more than a change of ownership of what was already Japanese territory.
But Beijing reacted with fury, with observers saying the riots that erupted across China had at least tacit backing from the Communist Party government.
Mitsuyuki Kagami, an expert in Chinese politics at Aichi University said there would be no let-up from Beijing.
“China will keep sending official ships and probably aeroplanes to undermine the status quo of Japan’s control over the islands,” he told AFP.
He said it would be more alarming if it began to send military vessels or aircraft, but he believed Beijing had no interest in a war with Tokyo.
“China hopes to draw Japan to the negotiating table,” he said, adding that the likely victory of the hawkish Shinzo Abe in Japan’s general election on Sunday might make any Japanese compromise more difficult.
10 Comments on "China Flies Into Japanese Airspace For The First Time In History"
BillT on Fri, 14th Dec 2012 1:15 am
When will China’s neighbors realize that China rules Asia now? Japan is bankrupt. It’s ally, the Us is bankrupt. Europe is bankrupt. The whole West is in denial, but they no longer rule the world. China will do as it wants as there is no one able to prevent it.
MrEnergyCzar on Fri, 14th Dec 2012 1:40 am
That future South China sea oil war should be interesting if we get involved… Once we pull a ship in, China picks up the phone, dumps our treasuries and our currency collapses, we promptly pull out…….
MrEnergyCzar
Arthur on Fri, 14th Dec 2012 8:17 am
The days that Japan could colonize Mandshuria and a non-white country could beat a white (Russian) army for the first time in history, in 1905 I beleve, these days are clearly over for Japan. Kunstler predicts that Japan could abandon modernity alltogether soon, scrap Sony, Toyota and what have you and go traditional again. Think of courtyards and guys with sticks, carrying out sham fights, supervised by a very wise master. A man needs to do something in his life.
Kougeki Kaishi !
Women love warriers more than despised salary men anyway.
ken nohe on Fri, 14th Dec 2012 1:27 pm
Still a very dangerous game for China. The Chinese have no modern weapons to speak of and are in no position to pick a fight with Japan or the US as it would quickly backfire and grind their economy to a screeching halt. They know it full well and it is therefore concerning that they nevertheless feel compelled to play a high stake game with Japan.
As for Kunstler Amish dreams, they may become reality in some far off prefectures like Akita if the population doesn’t dwindle to zero before, but Tokyo even sclerotic is still a far more vibrant city than most other places in the world.
Arthur on Fri, 14th Dec 2012 3:44 pm
Vibrant cities can become depressed nearly overnight. Roaring twenties followed by a financial crash followed by a thirties depression. Kunstler could point to the 200% national debt level, the highest in the industrialized world. People will be trading socks against cabbages before you know it.
ken nohe on Fri, 14th Dec 2012 8:51 pm
The one way Tokyo will become depressed overnight is with an earthquake. But that paradoxically would be positive as it would shake the country out of its torpor. The Yen goes to 150 for a dollar, The Japanese find themselves half as rich as they expected but extremely competitive once again followed by 10 years of rebuilding and surge of economic activity provided of course that there is enough oil to power all this. But at least then we will be focused on the right issue.
BillT on Sat, 15th Dec 2012 1:57 am
Ken, Japan is a dead man walking.
And as for the Chinese having no modern weapons…you are either blind or so anti-china that you cannot see that they are equal or beyond the weapons of the West. The American fleets will not come within 1,000 miles of mainland China if a war ever starts and they know it. China can shoot down US satellites. It can hit the US with nukes. Etc… And, the best of all, it can take down the Western financial system in a heartbeat. Game over.
Arthur on Sat, 15th Dec 2012 10:15 am
During the Falklands war in 1980 it became obvious that the days of the fleets are over. Alexander Haig, US foreign minister at the time, had to travel to several countries to persuade these governments to please, please, do not sell french exocet missiles, otherwise the argentinians would have won and the ‘taskforce’ would have been sunk to the bottom of the ocean. That’s 32 years ago. The Chinese, who invented fireworks.lol, meanwhile have perfected their supersonic missiles and even the top brass of the US navy has admitted that they do not have any defense against it. The entire US navy is one useless floating multibillion junk yard, when it comes to confronting real adversaries like China and Russia. Because of their MACH5 missiles.
http://www.japantoday.com/category/commentary/view/hypersonic-missiles-could-challenge-u-s-naval-supremacy
ken nohe on Sun, 16th Dec 2012 12:32 am
Mach-5 missiles and supersonic torpedoes are military assets but almost insignificant in military terms because long before you start using them you will have destroyed the 1 trillion dollar trade between the two countries with far more devastating consequences.
All wars since the 2WW have proved that a devastating first strike is not key anymore. What is important is technological superiority on the battle field plus long term access to resources. At this stage, China would have a very difficult time on both counts and a war is consequently unlikely… short of a major misstep that both countries would quickly regret immensely.
Arthur on Sun, 16th Dec 2012 1:12 am
MAD still works and the US could not beat Vietnam, not even with the help of the south. China is more than ten times as big. The Chinese can be a little more careless with the number of casualties it can afford, without risking internal instability, in contrast to the US. Chinese can play the nationalist card, where the American nation does not exist. Babylon would be a more apt description. Sure, China does not want war, since it does not want to conquor the world, unlike Washington. It does not want to destroy trade relations. But it senses that it gradually gets paid for it products with thin air. China will only hit when it is cornered.