Beijing preparing new ADZ in South China Seahttp://ajw.asahi.com/article/ January 31, 2014 By NANAE KURASHIGE/ Correspondent BEIJING--China is laying out plans to define another new air defense identification zone, but this time in the South China Sea, sources said, which could further escalate tensions in the region. The disclosure is sure to provoke Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, all of whom claim sovereignty over parts or all of the disputed territory, which includes hundreds of islands, cays, shoals and reefs. The move comes on the heels of China’s announcement in November of its new ADIZ in the East China Sea, which drew angry reactions from Japan, the United States and South Korea. The area is also believed to have more exploitable natural resources than the East China Sea. "Gaining the upper hand in the air is a requisite for gaining the upper hand in the sea," said one military analyst. "An ADIZ is of vital importance for making maritime advances." Chinese government sources told The Asahi Shimbun that working-level air force officials have already worked out a draft plan for the prospective ADIZ, which they say, at the very least, will include the airspace over the Paracel Islands, which China calls Xisha and are under its control. The air zone could also go on to cover the entire South China Sea. The sources said the Air Force Command College, a cadre development and research institution in Beijing that helped draft the East China Sea ADIZ, is also playing a central role in hammering out the plans for the South China Sea ADIZ, a draft of which was submitted to high-level military officials in May 2013. Two key criteria that were used in the South China Sea ADIZ draft plan were deciding which boundaries Beijing would set up as its territorial sea baselines, the lines along its coast from which it measures its territorial waters outward, and the effective monitoring range of Chinese military aircraft and radar, the sources added. China expanded its territorial sea baseline to include the Paracel Islands in May 1996. "China will have an easy time explaining its rationale to the international community if the ADIZ ends at the Xisha Islands," said one senior official in a government-affiliated research institution. China's sovereignty claims are defined by what it calls the "nine-dotted line" map, the U-shaped demarcation line that outlines the territory it claims as its own, which is basically the bulk of the South China Sea. Many Chinese government officials argue that the South China Sea ADIZ should extend as far as the nine-dotted line to ensure the consistency of Beijing's claims, sources said. The announcement of a new ADIZ will require notifying the international community of its latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates. Some say it is impractical for China to extend the ADIZ to the nine-dotted line because it still remains hazy over its actual latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates. China has also yet to announce territorial sea baselines that include the Macclesfield Bank and the Spratly Islands, which are known as the Zhongsha and Nansha islands, respectively, in Chinese. The move to create the South China Sea ADIZ is driven by Beijing's urge to establish a greater military presence--both naval and air--in waters off its coastline and expand its maritime interests to counter the United States. China believes it is entitled to such rights as a major power, according to a diplomatic source in Beijing. "More than 20 countries, among them the United States and Japan, have defined their ADIZs," the Chinese Ministry of National Defense said. Beijing has been moving to solidify what it calls its "sovereign rights" over the South China Sea, which have depths convenient for submarine navigation, and make it a fait accompli. It has already installed a nuclear submarine base in the area and is building a radar site on Woody Island in the Paracels, known as Yongxing Island in Chinese. The difficulty Beijing is facing is that the waters inside the nine-dotted line have yet to be officially recognized internationally as China's exclusive economic zone; nor is there rationale based on international law for Beijing's claims. Some also speculate that another problem facing China is the South China Sea is too distant from the Chinese mainland to be covered by its radar sites there. They say Beijing may not be able to effectively monitor the area unless it routinely flies aircraft equipped with broad-range radar systems or builds more radar sites on remote islands effectively under its control. Chinese President Xi Jinping met with his Vietnamese counterpart, Truong Tan Sang, last June to agree to set up a hotline between the naval forces of both countries to help prevent their territorial dispute from escalating into open conflict. For now, Beijing appears to be mulling when will be the best time to announce its new South China Sea ADIZ. "So many different elements have to be taken into consideration, because the mechanism is so complicated," a National Defense Ministry representative told The Asahi Shimbun. By NANAE KURASHIGE/ Correspondent ============================== http://www.voatiengviet.com/ Bắc Kinh ‘đang cân nhắc’ vùng nhận dạng phòng không ở biển Đông 31.01.2014 Một tờ báo của Nhật Bản dẫn lời các nguồn tin không nêu danh tính của chính phủ Trung Quốc cho biết như vậy hôm nay. Theo tờ Asahi Shimbun, các giới chức thuộc không lực Trung Quốc đã phác thảo các kế hoạch về một vùng nhận dạng phòng không mới với tâm điểm là quần đảo Hoàng Sa và trải rộng phần lớn vùng biển Nam Trung Hoa mà Việt Nam gọi là biển Đông. Tờ báo của Nhật Bản đưa tin rằng các đề xuất đã được nộp lên cho các giới chức quân sự cấp cao của Trung Quốc hồi tháng Năm năm ngoái. Thông tin này được đưa ra không lâu sau khi Bắc Kinh khiến nhiều quốc gia lên tiếng phản đối vì thiết lập vùng nhận dạng phòng không trên vùng biển tranh chấp Hoa Đông. Việt Nam chưa có bình luận về thông tin mà tờ Asahi Shimbun mới đưa ra nhưng liên quan tới việc Trung Quốc tuyên bố vùng nhận dạng phòng không trên vùng biển tranh chấp với Nhật Bản, Hà Nội từng lên tiếng cho biết ‘quan tâm sâu sắc các diễn biến tại khu vực biển Hoa Đông’. Đại diện Bộ Ngoại giao Việt Nam nói hồi đầu tháng 12 năm ngoái rằng Việt Nam ‘mong muốn các bên liên quan kiềm chế, giải quyết ổn thỏa bất đồng thông qua đối thoại và các biện pháp hòa bình, trên cơ sở luật pháp quốc tế, đảm bảo an ninh, an toàn cho các đường bay quốc tế, góp phần duy trì hòa bình, ổn định, hợp tác và phát triển ở khu vực’. Ngoài Nhật, Mỹ cũng từng bày tỏ 'quan ngại sâu sắc' về khu vực phòng không Trung Quốc . Nguồn: Asahi Shimbun, AFP ============================== WASHINGTON, Feb 1 — The United States warned China yesterday against any move to declare a new air defence zone over parts of the South China Sea including disputed islands. The Asahi Shimbun daily of Japan reported that Chinese air force officials have drafted proposals for the next Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) that could place the Paracel Islands at its core. Any such move would be seen “as a provocative and unilateral act that would raise tensions and call into serious question China’s commitment to diplomatically managing territorial disputes,” State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf told reporters. She stressed, however, that the reports were “unconfirmed” at this time. Beijing claims the South China Sea almost in its entirety, even areas a long way from its shoreline. Late last year, it caused a storm when it abruptly declared an ADIZ above the East China Sea, including islands at the heart of a sovereignty row with Tokyo. “We’ve made very clear that parties must refrain from announcing an ADIZ or any other administrative regulation restraining activity of others in disputed territories, and we would of course urge China not to do so,” Harf added. — AFP | |||||||||
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Beijing preparing new ADZ in South China Sea// Bắc Kinh ‘đang cân nhắc’ vùng nhận dạng phòng không ở biển Đông
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