East Asia’s New Cold War

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A Maritime Test of Strength, The Security Times (January 31, 2014)
East Asia’s New Cold War
Carlyle A. Thayer
A new Cold War is taking shape in East Asia between China and Japan. The new Asian Cold War is
maritime in character with a geographic focus on the so-called first island chain that runs from the
Kurile islands north of Japan to the Philippine archipelago in the south.
The new Asian Cold War is more fluid than its European counterpart. It involves confrontation
between China and two bilateral alliances, one between the U.S. and Japan in East Asia and the
other between the U.S. and the Philippines in Southeast Asia.
The new Asian Cold War sharpened last year when China aggressively began to challenge Japanese
sovereignty over the Senkaku islands and Philippine sovereignty over a small shoal lying off its west
coast.
The Senkaku islands comprise five small islets and three rocky outcroppings covering a land area of
eight square kilometres. They are located approximately 445 kilometers southwest of Okinawa. The
Senkakus re-emerged as a point tension between China and Japan in September 2012 when the new
Japanese government led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe purchased three of the islets from private
owners. China claimed that Abe had nationalized its territory.
China immediately deployed civilian paramilitary ships and civil marine surveillance aircraft to the
Senkakus where they continually intrude into Japan’s territorial waters and airspace.
Early last year China escalated its aggressive tactics when, in separate incident, two People’s
Liberation Army (PLAN) warships locked their fire control radar on a Japanese helicopter and
Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force vessel. Also PLAN warships regularly conducted military
exercises in waters adjacent to the Senkakus, while Chinese J-10 jet fighters and H-6 bombers flew
overhead.
Japan responded to Chinese actions by permanently stationing Coast Guard ships around the
Senkakus and by continually scrambling F-15 fighters to monitor flights by Chinese civil and military
aircraft. In September, Japan identified China’s first use of an unmanned aerial vehicle near the
Senkakus. Japan threatened to shoot the drone down if it intruded into its airspace. China
responded by declaring that this would be an act of war.
Tensions in East Asia erupted after China unilaterally declared an Air Defence Identification Zone
(ADIZ) over the East China Sea including airspace over Japan’s Senkaku islands. All aircraft – civilian
and military –were required to obtain prior authorization before entering the ADIZ, follow
prescribed procedures to identify themselves, or face “defensive emergency measures.” China also
declared its intention to establish other ADIZs “after necessary preparations.”
Japan vehemently condemned China’s ADIZ as a “profoundly dangerous act that unilaterally changes
the status quo… [and] unduly infringes on the freedom of flight in international airspace.” Japan
demanded that China rescind it. The United States, South Korea, Taiwan and Australia joined Japan
in protesting China’s ADIZ.
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In late November the U.S., South Korea and Japan separately flew military aircraft through China’s
ADIZ without incident. The U.S. dispatched two unarmed B-52s bombers. On November 29 China
announced that it had carried out its first patrol of its ADIZ. China also scrambled jet fighters to
monitor two U.S surveillance aircraft and ten Japanese planes.
China’s declaration of an East China Sea ADIZ, following a year of continual pressure on the
Senkakus, proved to be a tipping point. In December the Japanese Cabinet approved the country’s
first National Security Strategy and revised National Defense Guidelines. Japan also established its
first National Security Council.
Specifically citing China’s intrusions into waters around the Senkakus, Japan gave priority to
defending Japan’s islands in the southwest. Japan’s defense budget was increased over the next five
years to cover the procurement costs of twenty-eight F-35 stealth fighters, two Aegis destroyers, five
conventional submarines, three surveillance drones, and the creation of a marine force equipped
with seventeen Tilrotor aircraft and fifty-two amphibious vehicles.
Prime Minister Abe also announced a policy of “proactive pacifism” under which Japan would play
an enhanced leadership role in the region and strengthen its military ties with the U.S., South Korea,
Australia and Southeast Asia. On December 26 Abe visited the Yasukuni Shrine, a burial ground for
Japan’s war dead which China’s views as a symbol of Japan’s past militarism and aggression. The
Chinese media carried reports that senior Chinese leaders were so offended that they vowed not to
meet with Abe.
In January 2013 the Philippines took its territorial dispute with China to a United Nations Arbitral
Tribunal for resolution. China responded by singling out the Philippines for special attention.
In May 2013, Chinese paramilitary ships and a PLAN frigate suddenly appeared at Second Thomas
Shoal to prevent the Philippines from repairing a Landing Ship Tank (LST) that had been deliberately
beached there in the late 1990s. The LST serves as a base for a handful of marines as a
demonstration of Philippine sovereignty.
Chinese paramilitary ships remain on station and continually harass Filipino fishermen and other
commercial boats.
Six days after China announced its ADIZ, Hainan province legislative authorities approved a new
regulation requiring all foreign fishing boats and survey vessels to seek prior approval before
operating in two million square kilometres of water claimed by the province. This represents nearly
sixty percent of the waters included in China’s nine-dash line claim to the South China Sea.
According to the regulations foreign vessels that refuse to comply will be forced from Chinese
waters or boarded and seized. The waters claimed by Hainan province overlap with the Exclusive
Economic Zones proclaimed by the Philippines and Vietnam. Both countries lodged official protests.
Manila declared, for example, that the regulation “is a gross violation of international law… escalates
tensions… and threatens the peace and stability of the region.” Vietnam declared the measure
“illegal and invalid.”
On the same day that the Hainan province regulations were made public, China dispatched for the
first time its only aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, and an escort of two destroyers and two frigates to
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the South China Sea for a series of training exercises. The flotilla was shadowed by the USS Cowpens,
a guided missile cruiser.
On December 5, a Chinese naval ship ordered USS Cowpens to leave the area where the Liaoning
was operating. When it refused an Amphibious Landing Ship Dock crossed within 500 meters of the
Cowpens’ bow and stopped dead in the water. The USS Cowpens was forced to take evasive action.
The U.S. later lodged an official protest.
The Cowpens incident raised regional concerns that China has decided to begin contesting the
presence of U.S. naval ships in the South China Sea. The deployment of the Liaoning aircraft carrier
raised further concerns that China might follow through on its November 23 declaration and
establish an ADIZ over the South China Sea.
China has instigated a new maritime Asian Cold War to disrupt the network of alliances linking Japan
and the Philippines to the United States. China seeks to demonstrate to Tokyo, Manila and other
regional states that the U.S. lacks both the will and the capacity to respond to China’s continual
assertions of sovereignty over remote islets and shoals. China does not expect quick results and is
preparing for a prolonged test of U.S. resolve.