News Report: THAAD Decision Derails Seoul-Beijing Military Talks

Seoul and Beijing have suspended their high-level defense talks as a result of South Korea's decision to deploy a controversial American anti-missile system in the country.

Sources reported November 6 that the planned visit of South Korean Defense Minister Han Min-koo to China for negotiations with Chinese Defense Minister Chang Wanquan had stalled, and that the countries' annual vice-ministerial level military strategy talks were now not likely to take place. China and South Korea have held these defense talks every year since 2011. 

South Korea decided in July to station the US Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system on its territory, and recent reports say it will be deployed within the next eight to 10 months. The system is one of many new aggressive defense measures Seoul is taking as North Korea, amid international condemnation, continues to test nuclear devices and ballistic missiles.

News Story: South Korea plans to purchase two more E-737 Peace Eye AEW&C aicraft

Peace Eye AEW&C (image: Wiki Commons)

South Korea's Air Force (ROKAF) plans to acquire two more Peace Eye airborne early warning and control aircraft down the road to boost its operational capabilities, a government source said Sunday. The move will increase the number of E-737s to six and give the ROKAF better situational awareness, greater ability to gather signal intelligence and better control over its aerial assets. The presence of the planes can act as a deterrence against the North which does not have similar platforms.

The E-737s can also give Seoul the ability to better regulate and protect the country's Korean Air Defense Identification Zone from all possible intruders as nations in Northeast Asia have started vying to more effectively manage their airspace to deal with security threats.

"In the past there had only been speculation about increasing the size of the AEW&C fleet, but it has now been 'confirmed' to be part of the long-term acquisition plan," the insider who declined to be identified said.

He did not give a timeline for the procurement but long-term plans usually take some 5 years to get the necessary budget needed to start the project.

"The inclusion of the procurement is a clear sign that the military wants the planes," he said.

Read the full story at Air Recognition

Editorial: 2 Chinese Fighters Entered South Korea's Air Defense Identification Zone

By Ankit Panda

Was China trying to send a message?

South Korea authorities said on Tuesday that two Chinese fighters had entered South Korea’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea, near Jeju Island. South Korea responded to the incident by scrambling fighters.

According to Jeon Ha-kyu, a spokesman for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the incident occurred on Sunday. The Chinese jets left South Korea’s ADIZ after receiving a warning message. ”We took necessary surveillance and tactical measures adequately,” he said.

It’s unclear if the jets were operating in that airspace as part of a regularly scheduled patrol or exercise, or if the incident was an intentional attempt to signal China’s assertion of its own ADIZ in that area. In November 2013, China declared an ADIZ in the East China Sea that partially overlapped with South Korea’s zone.

Read the full story at The Diplomat

Editorial: Is China Ready to Solve One of Its Maritime Disputes?

By Shannon Tiezzi

China and South Korea will hold their first round of maritime demarcation talks in December.

It hasn’t been a good two weeks for China’s maritime claims. First, a U.S. freedom of navigation operation took the USS Lassen, a guided missile destroyer, within 12 nautical miles of a Chinese-controlled feature in the South China Sea, then the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague ruled that it does have jurisdiction to hear the Philippines’ case against China’s South China Sea claims (despite objections from Beijing). But this week, there was some good news for China in the maritime domain: China and South Korea are inching toward finalizing the maritime demarcation between their two countries.

China and South Korea’s exclusive economic zones (EEZs) overlap in the Yellow Sea, and as of yet the two sides haven’t reached an agreement on the demarcation line. This has led to heightened tensions over fishing rights in particular, with clashes between theSouth Korean Coast Guard and Chinese fishermen accused of illegally fishing in South Korea’s waters. In 2014, a Chinese fisherman was fatally shot in a scuffle with the South Korean Coast Guard; in 2011, a Chinese fisherman fatally stabbed a South Korean Coast Guard officer. Finalizing the demarcation line would help prevent further ugly encounters between the two sides.

There’s no real territorial dispute at stake for China or South Korea, although they spar over a submerged rock (known as Ieodo in Korea and Suyan in China). Both sides agree the rock has no territorial status – and thus is not the subject of a territorial dispute – but both China and South Korea claim the rock is included in their respective EEZs. South Korea has built an ocean research station on Ieodo, while China made sure its 2013 air defense identification zone in the East China Sea extended over it. In response, South Korea expanded its own ADIZ to cover the rock.

The maritime demarcation issue has been regularly brought up at bilateral meetings, but this is the first time China and South Korea will conduct formal negotiations aimed at defining the demarcation line. When Chinese President Xi Jinping was in South Korea in July 2014, he and Korean President Park Geun-hye agreed that the two sides would start official discussions on the maritime demarcation line in 2015. The talks next month will come just in time to fulfill that promise.

Read the full story at The Diplomat

News Report: Experts Concerned China May Soon Establish Southern ADIZ

Li Bao, Si Yang

WASHINGTON—U.S. and international security experts have expressed concerns that it may just be a matter of time before China establishes an air defense identification zone over disputed waters in the South China Sea.

China has been rapidly reclaiming land and making artificial islands in the South China Sea during the past year, causing strong reaction in the U.S. and many other countries.

Senator John McCain, Chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, said island building is just the beginning.

McCain said the next step for China will be to militarize those islands and declare an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) over the South China Sea to further its sovereignty claims.

“They build runways; they are going to put weapons there, and the next thing you will see the Chinese do is when an American aircraft [flies by], whether being a commercial craft or what, they will say ‘identify yourself’- establishing an Air Defense Identification Zone, which then means territorial sovereignty,” Senator McCain said last week at Hudson Institute, a Washington-based think tank.

Editorial: Japan and China Get to Yes on an Abe-Xi Summit

By Sheila A. Smith

After much speculation it appears that the two sides have found sufficient common ground to meet.

On November 7, Japan and China revealed they had reached an understanding on their differences that would allow for a resumption of diplomacy. After several years of a virtual shut down in bilateral talks, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chinese President Xi Jinping are preparing to meet face-to-face at next week’s APEC meeting. Economic needs may be driving Xi, but strategic concerns are on the top of Abe’s agenda.

The basic understanding Beijing and Tokyo announced today was outlined in carefully crafted language, and suggests a cautious first step for Xi and Abe at the upcoming APEC meeting. Nonetheless, the two governments agreed on four points. First, Beijing and Tokyo noted their desire to return to “a mutually beneficial relationship based on common strategic interests,” the phrase used to describe the forward-looking relationship announced in the May 2008 summit meeting between President Hu Jintao and then Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda in Tokyo. Second, they recognized the need to overcome “political difficulties,” and included here the need to follow the “spirit of squarely facing history.” This ostensibly would include potential Yasukuni Shrine visits by the Japanese prime minister. Third, and perhaps most difficult, the two countries found a way to express their differences over their East China Sea island dispute that did not in fact back away from each country’s official position on the sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands (or Diaoyu Islands as China calls them). Beijing and Tokyo acknowledged their different views on “the emergence of tense situations in recent years in the waters of the East China Sea, including those around the Senkaku Islands,” and then went on to say they would build a crisis management mechanism and prevent deterioration in the situation.

Finally, Japan and China agreed to meet bilaterally and in multilateral settings to gradually resume relations, and to “make an effort to build a political relationship of mutual trust.” That they stressed the need to meet in normal diplomatic settings reveals just how deep the break has been. After decades of diplomatic ties, it would seem that Beijing and Tokyo feel they need to start all over in an attempt to build trust. After having their militaries face off across the East China Sea, this may take some time. In Tokyo, the question remains whether this is a tactical shift by China in advance of the APEC meetings, or if it signals a true desire to address longstanding differences and solve shared problems. 

Read the full story at The Diplomat

Editorial: US Senate Issues Bipartisan Resolution Condemning Chinese ADIZ

By Ankit Panda

A U.S. Senate resolution condemns Chinese attempts to revise the status quo in the Asia-Pacific.

What do U.S. legislators think about China’s recent moves in the East and South China Seas? Well, we got a pretty good idea last Thursday when the U.S. Senate passed a bipartisan resolution in essence condemning China’s actions and ambitions in Asia. The resolution, which is primarily “aimed at altering China’s behavior toward U.S. allies in the Asia-Pacific region,” according to The Hill, is a reaction to China’s decision in November 2013 to unilaterally impose an air defense identification zone over a large swathe of the East China Sea where it currently disputes the sovereignty of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands with Japan.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), a co-sponsor of the resolution, was unequivocal about what he saw as the United States’ enduring interest in the status quo in the Asia-Pacific: “The United States is an Asia-Pacific nation and we have an abiding national security interest in the maintenance of regional stability, as recent events have demonstrated.” The resolution, also cosponsored by Senators Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), makes sweeping statements on the status quo in the Asia-Pacific. It “condemns coercive and threatening actions or the use of force to impede freedom of operations in international airspace by military or civilian aircraft, to alter the status quo or to destabilize the Asia-Pacific region; [and] urges the Government of the People’s Republic of China to refrain from implementing the declared East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), which is contrary to freedom of overflight in international airspace.” 

Read the full story at The Diplomat

Editorial: China May Build ‘Artificial Island’ in South China Sea

By Zachary Keck

The island would be used as a military base to enforce a South China Sea air-defense identification zone.

China is considering plans to build an artificial island in the South China Sea to use as a military base from which to project power, according to the South China Morning Post.

According to the report, which cited prominent Chinese scholars and a navy expert, the artificial island would be constructed on the Fiery Cross Reef, where China already maintains some installations. The reef is part of the Spratly Islands and is disputed by the Philippines and Vietnam.

“China is looking to expand its biggest installation in the Spratly Islands into a fully formed artificial island, complete with airstrip and sea port, to better project its military strength in the South China Sea,” the report said. 

Read the full story at The Diplomat

News Story: USAF Chief - Chinese Air Defense ID Zone Shows Need for Communication

By AARON MEHTA

WASHINGTON — China’s creation of an air defense identification zone over the East China Sea is seen by many as a provocative statement from the Communist nation. But leaders of the US Air Force believe the international community should view this as an opportunity to discuss how to manage air defense zones in the region.

“I hope it’s not a platform for conflict. I hope it is a platform for communication,” Gen. Mark Welsh, Air Force chief of staff, said Wednesday morning at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.

“I think it gives us a great mandate for communicating better with each other and understanding there could potentially be mistakes and miscommunication in this kind of interchange if we establish air defense zones that overlay airspace where we know other nations are already operating,” Welsh said. “This is a discussion that needs to happen, it needs to be an international discussion, we need to do it with our allies and I think we’re heavily involved in that right now. So I hope it’s an opportunity for better communication. That’s the only acceptable future.”

Read the full story at DefenseNews

Editorial: China Is Surprisingly OK with South Korea's New ADIZ

By Shannon Tiezzi

China’s restrained reaction to South Korea’s expanded ADIZ further proves that its main concern is Japan.

South Korea announced Sunday that it is expanding its 62 year-old air defense identification zone in a clear reaction to China’s own new ADIZ.  The announcement adds over 66,000 sq. km (over 25,000 sq. mi) to Korea’s ADIZ. The expanded zone will cover the submerged rocks that are the subject of a territorial dispute between South Korea and China and will overlap with the ADIZs of both China and Japan (For more background on South Korea’s reaction to China’s ADIZ, see the analysis by my colleagues Ankit Panda and Zachary Keck.)

According to remarks by Jang Hyuk, head of policy for South Korea’s Defense Ministry, the government believes that the move “will not significantly impact our relationships with China and with Japan as we try to work for peace and cooperation in Northeast Asia.” Unlike China, South Korea’s government tried to control the inevitable tensions caused by its move by conferring in advance with neighboring countries, including the U.S., China, and Japan. According to Jang Hyuk, “related countries” are overall “in agreement that this move complies with international regulations and is not an excessive measure.”

China had a decidedly muted reaction to South Korea’s announcement. Partially, this was an inevitable result of China’s own insistence that its ADIZ was in accordance with international precedent and convention — China would have a hard time now arguing that South Korea has no right to expand its own ADIZ. In response to a question about the issue, China Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Hong Lei confirmed that China had been notified in advance by the Republic of Korea (ROK). 

Read the full story at The Diplomat

News Story: China's Air Zone Part Of Anti-access Strategy

By WENDELL MINNICK

TAIPEI — China’s air defense identification zone in the East China Sea reaches beyond the military challenge it poses to the US and allies in the region, with insidious implications on continued US diplomatic, economic and political power in the Asia-Pacific, according to US experts on Chinese military strategy.

In fact, it’s all part of China’s attempts to overturn the existing order and replace it with its own interpretation of international rules and norms, they said.

The announcement Nov. 23 has put the US on notice that China cares not what the US thinks or wants in the region. It has disrupted US Vice President Joe Biden’s visit to the region to discuss economics and trade. China’s zone has also shaken the confidence of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan on US security guarantees and led to fears the US has lost the ability to influence China permanently.

Sources indicate China appears emboldened by decades of economic, military and political growth to push the envelope on a weakened US, fraught with defense budget cuts, congressional division and hobbled by colossal debt. Would China have created the zone a decade ago when the US was at the height of its military, economic and diplomatic power? China is not attempting to join the international order created by the US after World War II but is instead an opportunist ready to profit from what it perceives as a decline of US power in the region, experts said.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

News Report: Biden Rejects China's Air Defense Zone, Reaffirms Asia Pivot

Daniel Schearf

SEOUL — U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has rejected China's self-declared Air Defense Identification Zone in the East China Sea, saying it raises tensions in the region and the possibility of miscalculation. Biden made the comments while in South Korea where he reaffirmed a U.S. plan to re-focus on the Asia Pacific and urged North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden Friday made his strongest comments yet on China's sudden expansion of its Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).

Beijing in November declared its aviation security area in the East China Sea extended over islands disputed with Japan and a reef disputed with South Korea. China demanded that all aircraft intending to enter the zone first submit a flight plan and Chinese officials reserved the right to deny access.

China has dismissed calls by officials in Washington, Tokyo and Seoul to roll back the defense zone, which it calls legal and within its rights.

News Story: South Korea To Expand Air Defense Zone

By JUNG SUNG-KI

SEOUL — South Korea is announcing next week that it will extend its air defense identification zone in response to China’s declaration of a new air defense zone overlapping the country’s southern islands and underwater rock.

President Park Geun-hye held talks Dec. 6 with US Vice President Joe Biden here to discuss the matter.

According to the presidential office, Biden, who had received no concession from China on its new air defense zone, appreciates Seoul’s plan to expand its air defense zone, drawn in 1951 by the UN Command in the middle of the Korean War.

“The two sides agreed to continue to discuss the matter,” Foreign Minister Yoon Byung-se said after the meeting.

In a speech at Yonsei University here, Biden reiterated the US government doesn’t recognize China’s unilateral move announced Nov. 23.

“We do not recognize the zone,” Biden told students. “It will have no effect on American operations.”

He called on South Korea, China and Japan to “lower the temperature” to resolve the issue. “The possibility of miscalculation, a mistake, is real,” he said.

Read the full story at DefenseNews

Editorial: South Korea Conducts Military Drill in China’s ADIZ

By Zachary Keck

In defiance of Beijing’s new ADIZ, South Korea’s Navy conduct air and sea drills near Ieodo Rock.

On Tuesday, the South Korean navy launched an air and sea military exercise in the area that China recently claimed as part of its East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).

On Wednesday, the Korea Joongang Daily reported that, “The Korean Navy yesterday launched a joint sea and air military drill near the waters surrounding Ieodo” Rock.  The report said the drill consisted of two P-3C maritime patrol aircraft as well as one of the ROK Navy’s three Aegis destroyers.

The destroyer reportedly anchored around 200 meters from Ieodo, which both South Korea and China claim but Seoul administers. The Korea Joongang Daily report also said that the two P-3Cs, which are used in anti-submarine operations as well as for maritime surveillance, crossed into Japan’s ADIZ with the prior approval of Tokyo.

This fact suggests that South Korea and Japan are boosting their cooperation in the wake of China unilaterally declaring the East China Sea ADIZ two weekends ago. Seoul and Tokyo have long been at odds over their own territorial dispute as well as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s comments about Japan’s actions in the region during the first half of the 20^th Century.

South Korea was undoubtedly seeking to send a strong signal to Beijing by notifying Japan that its military aircraft would be crossing into its ADIZ, despite Seoul refusing to identify its aircraft to Beijing. 

Read the full story at The Diplomat

News Report: Biden - US 'Deeply Concerned' About China's Air Defense Zone

Daniel Schearf

SEOUL — U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe say China's declared air defense zone in the East China Sea is intolerable and raises the risk of miscalculation leading to conflict. Beijing's unilateral move upset its neighbors as the zone overlaps disputed territory. 

Biden on Tuesday met with Japanese officials, including Abe, at the start of a week-long visit to Asia.

The long-scheduled trip to the region was supposed to center on an increased U.S. focus on Asia and efforts to negotiate a trans-Pacific trade agreement.  But, Beijing's declaration of an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in November set off alarm bells in Washington, Tokyo, and Seoul.

China says any aircraft wanting to fly through the expanded zone in the East China Sea must first submit a flight plan to Beijing.  China also reserves the right to deny entry to the airspace. But the zone overlaps international waters and territory administered by Japan and South Korea.

Editorial: South Korea to Expand Its Air Defense Identification Zone

By Zachary Keck

Following the creation of the East China Sea ADIZ, Seoul is planning on expanding the territory its own ADIZ covers.

South Korea is finalizing plans to expand its Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in response to China establishing the East China Sea ADIZ, local newspapers are reporting.

According to a number of local reports, ROK National Security Office chief Kim Jang-soo convened a meeting of top South Korean security officials on Sunday to discuss the new ADIZ.

The Korean Herald reported that the ADIZ is rumored to include the “country’s southernmost island of Marado; Hongdo Island, an uninhabited island south of Geojedo Island; and Ieodo, a submerged rock within the overlapping exclusive economic zones of South Korea and China.”

Yonhap News Agency quoted an unnamed local official as saying “(The new KADIZ) has been conceptually finalized. The government will announce the plan after carefully reviewing the military operation and aviation safety as well as the international regulations.”

Those consultations were initially scheduled to wrap up as early as Tuesday, however, Seoul has reportedly decided to delay the meetings in light of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s trip to the region this week. The meetings now may not take place until next week. 

Read the full story at The Diplomat