By Harry Kazianis
Leading from behind at a time when tensions are only mounting would be a tragic mistake.
As the world cheered the news that the P5+1 and Iran had finally concluded an agreement over Tehran’s nuclear program, East Asia moved one step closer to a full-blown crisis. And to be frank, the world has much more to worry about in East Asia than the never ending crisis that is the Middle East — like the world’s second and third largest economies clashing.
In what can only be called choice timing on Beijing’s part, its declaration of an “East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ)” has essentially crafted another step towards growing claims of sovereignty over the area around the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands. Nothing screams sovereignty like telling the world that the airplanes in the skies above the territory you claim must file flight plans with China. Considering Beijing’s past moves of non-naval maritime assets patrolling the area around the Senkakus to the more recent air patrols, the trend lines here are becoming increasingly dangerous and provocative.
Read the full story at The Diplomat