Well, the course is clear. Release the Kraken!
So into the fray Biden has moved, counseling all parties to contribute to regional stability rather than undermining it and harming their own economic prospects and security. On Tuesday, Biden reaffirmed America’s support of Japan, calling the island nation the “cornerstone” of America’s security in the Pacific. He expressed support for a Japanese call to create a hotline between Tokyo and Beijing and broadened the initiative conceptually to include regional crisis management mechanisms and infrastructure, ostensibly bringing South Korea into the mix to preempt “accidents and miscalculations.”
After talking to the Japanese, Vice President Biden went on to China.
The article says that hawks had wanted the vice president to demand an end to the air defense identification zone (ADIZ) while in China and that Biden should have set a "red line" on the issue.
I have my doubts if hawks would really have called for the latter. We draw them. But nobody in the White House can see in that part of the color spectrum, it is apparent. So why bother?
As for hawks demanding the end of the zone? I never called for that (not that I pretend to speak for the Hawk-American community, of course). China wouldn't back down and we couldn't make them.
The best we can do is state we do not recognize it as implemented and continually act as if we don't recognize it while being prepared for a Chinese attempt to enforce it while we are in the ADIZ.
And match our interest in Asia with follow through. As I recently noted, when you start to pivot to Asia and the Pacific, pivot to Asia and the Pacific.
It's kind of interesting in a way. Contrast the approach in the East China Sea where China asserts air sovereignty first with the South China Sea where China declared almost all of that sea to be Chinese territorial waters first. How long will it take before they are simply all declared Chinese territory--and core interests, too?
Is the world really at the point where we and China's neighbors all cancel military leave and heighten readiness in the week before China releases their newest edition of their "Wall Map Series of National Territory"?
As a further note, while it is true as the article says that other countries have ADIZs, they are not used to assert sovereignty over a part of the planet. They are used to identify aircraft approaching your shores in order to identify threats. You know, that 9/11 thing is still in our minds?
China can call their new East China Sea zone a ADIZ but really it is an attempt to annex the Senkakus.
One wonders if the Chinese timed their ADIZ ploy with Biden's planned visit, knowing he'd be our point man on the issue. When I think of pivoting to the Pacific, a Biden deployment is not my first thought. But he apparently avoided saying anything stupid--like telling the Chinese their ADIZ is "a big effing deal"--while there. So no harm, no foul.
Do not accept China's actions. We don't have to demand they roll it back, but we can make it clear that only China accepts the ADIZ as configured. It should be null and void, as far as we are concerned. So what's to even discuss other than rules of the road to avoid shooting incidents when our military assets are in proximity to each other?
