Back in the World of Realpolitik

[don]

U.S. Sends Two B-52 Bombers Into Air Zone Claimed by China

By THOM SHANKER

WASHINGTON — Defying China, two long-range American bombers flew through contested airspace over the East China Sea, days after the Chinese announced they were claiming the right to police the sky above a vast area that includes islands at the center of a simmering dispute with Japan.

Pentagon officials said Tuesday that the B-52s were on a routine training mission planned long in advance of the Chinese announcement on Saturday that it was establishing an “air defense identification zone” over the area.

But the message was clear.

kinda sets strait those who feel the 'Chinese Threat' is breathing down our necks . . .


meanwhile, in puppet land . . .

Thanh, Ky, the US and even the PLAVN thought there were years left to play out the struggle . . .

Asked what he would consider a favorable conclusion to the security negotiations he was conducting with the United States, Karzai answered:

“It is favorable if they surrender to us.”

But what if instead they just left?

He smirked, then said: “The U.S. has come and will not go, brother. It does not go. Therefore, ask for your demands and don’t worry.”

followed by . . .

“Ambassador Rice reiterated that, without a prompt signature, the U.S. would have no choice but to initiate planning for a post-2014 future in which there would be no U.S. or NATO troop presence in Afghanistan.”

mutual impotence, in all its empirical majesty . . . .

[don]

Re: Back in the World of Realpolitik

and so it goes . . .

Tensions have risen further over China's declaration of an air defence zone in disputed regions of the East China Sea after it sent fighter jets and an early warning aircraft to patrol the area.

The state news agency Xinhua announced the patrols after Japan, South Korea and the US all sent military aircraft through the zone in a clear challenge to the Chinese measure. Beijing had previously responded only by saying it had monitored the flights.

Shen Jinke, a spokesman for the Chinese air force, described Thursday’s dispatch of aircraft as "a defensive measure and in line with international common practices” in the Xinhua report.

"China's air force is on high alert and will take measures to deal with diverse air threats to firmly protect the security of the country's airspace," he said.

A previous patrol took place on Saturday, when the zone was declared.

Many countries have similar zones, requiring aircraft approaching their territorial airspace to identify themselves, and China has said it created the area to defend its national security. But its zone is controversial because it includes the skies over islands known as the Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, which are the subject of a long-running territorial dispute, and overlaps zones established by Japan and South Korea.

Taylor Fravel, an expert on regional security at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said establishment of the zone increased the potential for an incident in the air that could spark a larger crisis. But he said tensions might ease if China continued to clarify the nature of the zone and how it intended to deal with unidentified aircraft, especially those flying through the zone but not heading toward China.

“China has always chafed at Japan's ADIZ, which at some points is less than 150km from China and has been used by Japan to report intrusions into Japan's airspace. China probably wants to level the playing field with Japan and increase the pressure on Tokyo regarding the disputed islands,” he said.

Japan does not acknowledge that the ownership of the islands is disputed. The US does not take a view on sovereignty but recognises Japan’s administrative control and has said the joint security pact covers the islands.