Dangerous escalation in China-Japan tensions

This didn't even make it onto the news on Radio NZ in our Waitangi Day-obscessed media

China, Japan on the brink

Chinese warships have pointed missile radars at Japanese military targets and taken the two regional powers to the brink of "a dangerous situation", say Japanese officials.

The Age,

26 January, 2013

The news overnight marks a dangerous escalation of a four-month diplomatic and military stand-off between Australia's two largest trading partners, involving disputed islets in the East China Sea.

Japan's defence minister, Itsunori Onodera, told reporters last night that a Chinese frigate pointed a missile control radar at the Japanese destroyer Yuudachi on January 30.

"Something like fire-control radar was directed at a Japan Self-Defense Maritime escort ship in the East China Sea," Mr Onodera told reporters in Tokyo.

He also said a Chinese vessel had similarly targeted a Japanese ship-based helicopter two weeks earlier.

"This is extremely abnormal behaviour," Mr Onodera said.

"One step in the wrong direction could have pushed things into a dangerous situation," he said.

China last night sidestepped the specific Japanese allegations while urging calm.

A Chinese foreign ministry spokesman urged Japan "to stop all provocative actions" including sending vessels and planes to the Diaoyu Islands, known as Senkaku in Japanese.

"We hope Japan can take actions to show sincerity and willingness to work with China through talks and negotiations to control and manage the current situation," said spokesman Hua Chunying.

Diplomats and military officials in the United States, Japan and China had previously warned that the dispute was only one accident away from open military conflict.

But last night's news out of Tokyo suggests the two regional powers have come closer to live fire than many had feared.

Western military officers and diplomats were last night seeking more information to determine if the Chinese radar targeting amounted to what is known as "guide mode", which implies a missile has been locked onto a target.

"If you are the Japanese captain you would have an incredibly uncomfortable choice to make very quickly," said a Western diplomat, who has been closely following the dispute. "You’re seconds away if that thing decided to fire".

Mr Onodera's ambiguous language might also cover general radar scoping, known as "acquisition mode", or a targeted radar lock, known as "track mode", which falls short of an implication that a missile has been prepared for firing.

A chorus of outspoken Chinese generals have advocated a tough military stance ever since the Japanese Government brought the Senkaku Islands, or Diaoyu in Chinese, from private Japanese owners in September.

Japanese officials said the nationalisation was intended to de-escalate tensions by preventing the islands from falling into the hands of a hawkish politician.

But Chinese leaders immediately launched a fiery anti-Japan propaganda war, facilitated mass protests and formed a special security "small group" to steer the crisis.

Last month China's new Communist Party boss and military leader, Xi Jinping, took the rare step of ordering the People’s Liberation Army to be prepared for war.

A fortnight ago a People's Liberation Army officer, Colonel Liu Mingfu, ratcheted the sabre-rattling to a new level by raising a scenario with Fairfax Media that he said would justify a nuclear attack, while clarifying that he was not calling upon China to take such measures.

This week, however, a more powerful PLA general who is often categorised as a "hawk", and is known to be close to Mr Xi, called for cool heads to prevail.

He used a running race metaphor to argue that China should not be drawn into war just as it was about to overtake the United States after nearly two centuries of effort.

The same metaphor is also used in a book recently published by Col Liu Mingfu, How the People’s Liberation Army Can Win.

"We should not be interrupted by accidental [warfare] again," wrote Gen Liu Yuan, in an essay extract published in the Global Times.

"What the Americans and the Japanese fear is that we will catch up with them, which is why they exhaust every possible means to suppress China's development," wrote Gen Liu. "We should not fall into their trap."

The Japanese Defence Ministry has previously revealed that Japanese fighter planes were scrambled against Chinese aircraft in the area on 91 occasions between October and December.

Chinese frigate targets Japanese guard ship near disputed islands

Chinese marine surveillance ship Haijian No. 66 (front) cruising next to a Japan Coast Guard patrol ship in the East China Sea, known as Senkaku isles in Japan and Diaoyu islands in China (Reuters / Kyodo)

RT,

5 Fenruary, 2013

A Chinese frigate has locked weapon-targeting radar on a Japanese guard vessel in the area of the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, said Japan’s Defense Ministry. The islands are the subject of a territorial row between Beijing and Tokyo.

The incident occurred at the end of January, but took time to confirm. Japan's Foreign Ministry sent a formal protest to China on Tuesday in connection with the incident.

"Directing such radar is very abnormal. We recognize it would create a very dangerous situation if a single misstep occurred," Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera told the media.

The meeting of the two ships happened during a routine appearance of a group of Chinese patrol in the area of the disputed islands, known as the Diaoyu to the Chinese. In such cases Japanese frontier guards escort Chinese vessels and transmit radio demands to leave the territorial waters of Japan, but do not take any active measures, according to the ministry.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told Onodera it was important to respond calmly and not meet provocation with provocation, according to Kyodo news agency.

Earlier Chinese ambassador to Japan Cheng Yonghua said the islands and the surrounding waters were China's "inherent territory".

China will continue to "regularly patrol territorial waters surrounding the Diaoyu Islands," the country’s state-run Xinhua news agency has quoted official Beijing.

In the past six months, Chinese frigates have been constantly in the waters of the disputed islands and from time to time make brief demonstrative approaches to coastal waters. The territorial row has escalated into saber-rattling on both sides. The Japanese military scrambled fighter jets over the incursions, and then vowed to shoot down intruders. Neither China nor Japan has dispatched ships or planes to occupy the islands and claim ownership.

Amid fears that tensions over the disputed islands between aircrafts or ships of the two states could cause an accidental clash, a leaders’ summit could be held in April, according to Japanese authorities.

The dispute over the islands and the maritime boundaries around them has continued for years. It escalated in recent months, when Tokyo announced the purchase of three of the islands from a private Japanese owner in September of last year. After that, China witnessed mass anti-Japanese demonstrations. A diplomatic scandal led to problems in bilateral economic relations. Several Japanese companies in China suspended their work for security reasons, and Chinese Customs’ clearance of goods slowed from Japan.

The 7 square kilometer island group, also known as the Pinnacle Islands, consists of five uninhabited islets and three barren rocks. They lie close to strategically important shipping lanes, are believed to contain oil deposits and offer rich fishing grounds.

Historically, the islands belonged to China for centuries, but Japan assumed control of the territory following the 1894 Sino-Japanese War. Taiwan has also claimed ownership of the islands.