U.S. Sends B-52s Over East China Sea On 'Routine Training' Exercise

A B-52 bomber sits on the flight line at Andersen Air Force Base on the U.S. island territory of Guam on Jan. 15., 2019. U.S. AIR FORCE

Japan Times: Amid trade and military tensions, U.S. sends B-52s over East China Sea on 'routine training' exercise

The U.S. Air Force has sent two B-52 bombers over the East China Sea for “routine training” near Okinawa Prefecture, the military has said, the latest mission in the waterway that is home to the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands.

The B-52 bomber mission was part of so-called continuous bomber presence operations by the U.S., which the military says “have been ongoing since March 2004” and “are consistent with international law and United States’ long-standing and well-known freedom of navigation policies.”

The exercise also came just ahead of high-level U.S.-China talks scheduled for Wednesday in Washington aimed at finding a solution to a trade war that has cast a growing shadow over the world’s top two economies.

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Update: US Air Force Flies 2 B-52H Bombers Over East China Sea (The Diplomat)

WNU Editor: This is the new normal in this part of the world.

China Releases Video Of A Chinese Fighter Pilot Issuing A Warning To Foreign Aircraft In It's East China Sea ADIZ

(Click on Image to Enlarge)

SCMP: Chinese fighter pilot issues warning to foreign aircraft in East China Sea air identification zone

* ‘Report your nationality and purpose’, pilot instructs crew of unidentified plane
* Beijing declared ADIZ over disputed sea in 2013, but US, Japan and South Korea do not recognise it

A Chinese jet fighter engaged a foreign aircraft recently after it was spotted inside China’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ) over the East China Sea, state media reported.

In a video clip shown by China Central Television on Friday, the pilot of the Chinese plane is heard speaking in English to the crew of the unidentified aircraft.

“This is China air force,” he said. “You have entered the Chinese ADIZ. Report your nationality ID and purpose of the flight.”

The report did not say when the encounter took place or how the foreign plane responded to the message.

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WNU Editor: I would not be surprised if all sides are scrambling jets each day to assert their claims.

Japan Is Rushing To Build Frigates To Reinforce Its East China Sea Defenses

FILE PHOTO. © Toru Yamanaka / AFP

Reuters: Exclusive: Japan to speed up frigate build to reinforce East China Sea - sources

Japan plans to accelerate a warship building program to make two frigates a year to patrol the fringes of the East China Sea, where it disputes island ownership with China, three people with knowledge of the plan said.

Japan previously was building one 5,000-ton class destroyer a year, but will now make two 3,000-ton class ships a year, beginning from the April 2018 fiscal year, the people said, declining to be identified as they are not authorized to talk to the media.

It aims to produce a fleet of eight of the new class of smaller, cheaper vessels, which may also have mine-sweeping and anti-submarine capability.

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More News On Japan's Frigate Program

Japan to double warship construction in East China Sea with new frigate to counter Beijing– Report -- International Business Times
Tokyo bets on lighter frigates, plans to double E. China Sea naval build-up – reports -- RT
Japan to Build New Hi-Tech Fleet as East China Sea Conflict Heats Up -- Sputnik

Why Is China Escalating Tensions Against Japan?

A Chinese marine surveillance ship Haijian (center) cruises next to Japanese coast guard ships in the East China Sea, near islands known as the Senkakus in Japan and the Diaoyus in China. Radio Free Europe

Shaeli Das, Policy Forum: Why is China escalating tensions in the East China Sea?

Economics, power, or a bit of both?

The dispute between China and Japan over the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands has been rumbling along since the early 1970s, so why the sudden ramping up of tensions? Shaheli Das looks at the history of the dispute and what might be driving current developments.

The presence last month of 230 Chinese fishing vessels and the recurrent intrusions by Chinese ships in the “contiguous waters” near the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea have sparked new tensions in the region.

The row between China and Japan and the maritime territorial dispute in this body of water has escalated to a point where it is now one of the major combustible flashpoints in East Asia. Although Chinese naval activism, through incursions of jet fighters and coast guard vessels in the contiguous sea and airspace, has been a regular feature of the dispute for many years, such intrusions have dramatically increased of late.

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WNU Editor: Reasons for this increase in tensions .... (1) a Chinese economic slowdown and a government that wants to divert the public's attention away from it, (2) the decline of the U.S. .... Barack Obama’s ‘Asian pivot’ failed. China is in the ascendancy (Simon Tisdall, The Guardian), (3) an assertive Japan,, and (4) a long history of rivalry between China and Japan that goes back a long time .... Japan and China’s maritime tensions in the South China Sea are resurfacing World War II-era wounds (Steve Mollman, Quartz)

Update: How to Spark a War in Asia (Ted Galen Carpenter, National Interest).

Is China Preparing A Paramilitary Invasion Of The East China Sea?

Fishing boats are seen departing from Shenjiawan port in Zhoushan, Zhejiang province towards the East China Sea fishing grounds, September 17, 2012. Stringer China/REUTERS

Todd Crowell, Real Clear Defense: East China Sea: Dress Rehearsal for Invasion?

Tokyo delivered a humiliating public protest to Beijing for the intrusion of a vast Chinese “fishing fleet” escorted by more than a dozen coast guard and other law-enforcement vessels in or near waters of the disputed Senkaku islands.

Such protests are common in the ongoing cat and mouse game in the East and South China Seas, but they are usually delivered in private. In this case, Tokyo decided to turn its protest into political theater.

China’s Ambassador to Japan, Cheng Yonghua, was summoned to the foreign ministry, where news and television camera were waiting to film the encounter. Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida kept Cheng waiting for ten minutes then entered, a stern look on his face, gesturing Cheng to sit down.

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WNU Editor: Last month's "mini-invasion" where China used over 200 fishing boats to stake their claim in the East China Sea is already resulting in blow-back .... Japan Defense Ministry Wants A Bigger Budget To Counter China And North Korea (August 31, 2016).

China Sends A Fleet Of 230 Fishing Vessels Into Disputed Waters Claimed By Japan

Chinese naval vessels are pictured participating in a drill on the East China Sea, China, on 1 August 2016China Daily/via REUTERS

IBTimes: Japan protests after huge fleet of Chinese vessels enter disputed waters in East China Sea

Japan said three of Beijing's coast guard vessels appeared to be armed and demanded that China leave the area.

Japan has reportedly lodged a new protest with China after spotting six Chinese coastguard ships, along with a fleet of nearly 230 fishing vessels that approached its territory in the disputed waters in East China Sea. Japan's foreign ministry has said that Beijing sailed closed to what it considers to be Japanese-controlled islands, dubbed Senkaku.

Tokyo is demanding that the ships leave its area in the hotly contested waters, and claimed that three of Beijing's coast guard vessels appeared to be armed, Reuters reported. China, which also has overlapping sovereign claims in the East China Sea, calls the same island Diaoyu.

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WNU Editor: This is a major escalation.

More News On China Sending A Fleet Of 230 Fishing Vessels Into Disputed Waters Claimed By Japan

Chinese fleet sails near Japanese Senkaku islands -- BBC
Japan protests after swarm of 230 Chinese vessels enters waters near Senkakus -- Japan News
Japan Protests After Chinese Vessels Sail Near Disputed East China Sea Islands -- WSJ/AP
Japan protests after spotting Chinese ships near disputed islets -- DW
Japan protests Chinese vessels near disputed islands -- Al Jazeera
Japan protests fleet of Chinese ships near disputed islands -- UPI

China Holds Massive Naval Drills In The East China Sea

RT: China holds massive naval drills to prepare for ‘sudden, cruel & short’ modern war

The Chinese navy held a large-scale “live ammunition” drill in the East China Sea, which involved hundreds of ships and submarines from all three fleets of the People’s Liberation Army.

The exercise involving China's East Sea, North Sea and South Sea fleets practiced both offensive and defensive capabilities of the Chinese naval power. The exercise mobilized some 300 ships, dozens of fighter planes, and involved troops that are responsible for coastal defense radars, communications, and electronic warfare defense, daily newspaper The China Times reported.

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More News On China Holding Massive Naval Drills In The East China Sea

China holds live-fire navy drills in East China Sea -- FOX News/AP
Chinese navy holds combined drill in East China Sea -- CRIEnglish
Chinese Navy holds live-fire drills in East China Sea -- Japan Times
Beijing's Navy Launches Large-Scale Military Drills in East China Sea -- Sputnik

The Chinese - Japanese Dispute Over The East China Sea Is Going To Get Worse

CSIS: East China Sea Dispute is Getting Worse not Better

Following a temporary thaw in China-Japan relations after the 2015 Security Talks, maritime territorial tensions have ramped up again in the East China Sea. In the recent talks between Premier Li Keqiang and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the Asia-Europe summit meeting (ASEM) in Mongolia, Abe raised concerns over China’s expanding military activity in the East China Sea.

With China’s growing naval activism through increased incursions by coast guard vessels and jet fighters in surrounding waters and airspace, Japan too has upped its defensive posture. In 2015 Chinese incursions into Japan’s airspace prompted a record-high 571 fighter scrambles, elevating Japanese concerns. Since December 2015, China has stepped up its militarization of the area by deploying Chinese navy vessels at various instances in the contiguous zone around the disputed Diaoyu/Senkaku islands. In response, Japan has switched on a radar station in the East China Sea, giving it a permanent intelligence gathering post close to Taiwan and the disputed islands. Japan has furthermore deployed 12 coastguard vessels – successively increasing its fleet presence against China’s upped ante.

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WNU Editor: I concur with this analysis. The world's focus is on the South China Sea boundary dispute, but it is the Japanese - Chinese dispute on the East China Sea that the possibility of a serious naval or air engagement exists. Maybe not now .... but if this military buildup continues .... and no outlet for talks or negotiations occurs .... a confrontation is all but certain at some time in the future.

Japan's Radar Post Near The Disputed East China Sea Islands Now Operational

BBC

Reuters: Japan opens radar station close to disputed East China Sea islands

Japan on Monday will switch on a radar station in the East China Sea, giving it a permanent intelligence gathering post close to Taiwan and a group of disputed islands claimed by both Tokyo and Beijing.

The new Self Defence Force base on Yonaguni is at the western extreme of a string of Japanese islands in the East China Sea, 150 km (93 miles) south of the disputed islands known as the Senkaku islands in Japan and the Diaoyu in China.

"This radar station is going to irritate China," said Nozomu Yoshitomi, a professor at Nihon University and a former major general in the Self Defence Force.

In addition to being a listening post, the facility could be used a base for military operations in the region, he added.

The deployment fits into a wider military build up along the island chain, which stretches 1,400 km (870 miles) from the Japanese mainland.

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Update: Japan Extends East China Sea Surveillance (Defense News)

WNU Editor: This radar post is very close to Taiwan. Expect China and Taiwan to respond.

Japan Beefing Up Its Island Defenses To Counter China's Growing Naval Power

Military personnel stand on deck of the Izumo helicopter carrier of the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) during its fleet review at Sagami Bay, off Yokosuka, south of Tokyo in this October 15, 2015 file photo. REUTERS/Thomas Peter/Files

Reuters: Exclusive: Japan's far-flung island defense plan seeks to turn tables on China

Japan is fortifying its far-flung island chain in the East China Sea under an evolving strategy that aims to turn the tables on China's navy and keep it from ever dominating the Western Pacific Ocean, Japanese military and government sources said.

The United States, believing its Asian allies - and Japan in particular - must help contain growing Chinese military power, has pushed Japan to abandon its decades-old bare-bones home island defense in favor of exerting its military power in Asia.

Tokyo is responding by stringing a line of anti-ship, anti-aircraft missile batteries along 200 islands in the East China Sea stretching 1,400 km (870 miles) from the country's mainland toward Taiwan.

WNU Editor: The Japanese are seeing what the Chinese have done in the South China Sea .... they are clearly not interested in having the same result happen to them in their maritime dispute with China

Update: Zero Hedge's analysis is probably correct .... Japan Prepares Missile Blockade In East China Sea To Halt Chinese "Maritime Aggression" (Zero Hedge).