MORE MISCHIEF FROM CHINA

Ever since the Chinese economy started looking up as a result of liberalization, the country has started over-stretching its territorial boundaries and coastal limits, causing anxieties for its neighbours including India. The things did not stop only after annexing Tibet and forcing an uncalled for border skirmishes on India in 1962. We know that it got back and rightly so Hongkong from Great Britain. It has been locking horns with the US to get back Taiwan but so far has not succeeded. It is known to all that there are three islands under Japanese control which China has been claiming and the resultant dispute persists. Recently when India started exploring petrol for Vietnam within its coastal waters, china threatened india to keep off. China has been patronizing North Korea in its mission to embarrass its southern counterpart. China does not hold any fruitful talk with the Dalai Lama so that the Tibetan refugees of 1959 in India could go back to their motherland.

Of late, to be precise, in November last, China suddenly declared a ban on flights without informing it in East China Sea. In East China Sea, there is an island named Diaoyu in Chinese and Sankaku in Japanese. It is a disputed place between both these countries. Presently the island, though not inhabited, is under the administrative control of Japan. China delared it as ‘Air Defence Identification Zone’ (ADIZ). By doing so, China decreed that any aircraft intering into this zone should provide a flight plan, maintain  two-way radio communications and clearly identify their nationality. It loudly declared that any violation would be subject to ‘defensive emergency measures’.

In Japanese estimation, it is a disturbing development. It has directed its Nippon flights to just ignore the zone. Most of the countries of the area, known for their pro-US stand have alleged that China is resorting to provocative measures to antagonize japan in main.The US sent two B-52 bombers to fly over the zone. South Korea and Taiwan have also sent their aeroplanes over the zone to test the water. China, though feeling humiliated, has eschewed from reprising. Still it is feeling crestfallen and the newly elected Chinese president may resort to some misadventure to assert his leadership. The world peace is in danger.