East China Sea Conflcit

Setting up of ADIZ by China 

China announced to set up an Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) over the Senkakau / Diayou islands in East China Sea and notified that Airlines passing by should give prior information to Chinese authorities.Non-compliance to this can result in "emergency defensive measures" i.e military measures.

Aftermath 

Raised tensions in East China sea region where there is raging dispute between China and Japan over the sovereignty of Senkakau / Diayou islands.China claims sovereignty over the uninhabited islands, while Japan has the administrative control over them. The South
Koreans have also been affected because the Chinese ADIZ overlaps with a South Korean ADIZ in the area.

Reactions : 

•  US flew two of its Guam-based unarmed B-52 bombers through the Chinese ADIZ disregarding Chinese stipulations of prior notification. 
• The Japanese and South Koreans also sent their surveillance planes through the contested zone.
• Undeterred, the Chinese in turn sent their war planes though the zone and also naval ships to the islands.

China's Defensive argument :  US,Japan,South Korea already has ADIZ in the area without any consultation with Chinese authorities so why China become a victim of these hypocritical comments.

China's Strategy Prediction : 

1. Trying to claim sovereignty over the island
2. Trying to keep US out of the region
3. Testing US security commitment to Japan alliance.Presently Japan-US are having joint naval exercise in Okinawa.
4. China calculated that no one wants military conflict as that would be disastrous to global economy.And others are ready to adjust as per Chinese terms.This can be seen by high profile visit by UK PM with 100 businessmen .And sooner the visit is expected by John Biden (US vice Prez)

China's Calculation : 

• The Chinese policy of taking calculated risks and testing the resolve of the opponents is now becoming common. In 2007, China had tested an anti satellite missile in space which has created enormous amount of debris causing safety issues to satellites of all countries. Every one was concerned but no one was able to take any action. This was because the others had also tested similar missiles earlier and so the China could not be criticised.

For India :

• In April, the Chinese troops had come deep inside the Indian territory weeks before the Chinese premier was slated to visit India. It took three weeks for the explosive situation to resolve. The Chinese withdrew their troops and the two sides finally ended up signing a border defence cooperation agreement during Indian prime minister's visit to Beijing in October. The agreement is based on a draft which was initially given by the Chinese. It is not clear whether this would actually prevent incursions that have been routine in the past.
• The poser for India is how would deal with the situation if the Chinese declared an ADIZ somewhere along the disputed border? Indian policy makers must be mulling over this eventuality.
• China reacted adversely to the recent visit of the Indian president to Arunachal Pradesh which it claims to be disputed territory. What if tomorrow the Chinese declare an ADIZ over Arunachal Pradesh?

Conclusion :

There is now little doubt that China is displaying a muscular and assertive foreign policy. Most countries in Asia would be wary of a hard military response because of the growing dependence of their economies on the Chinese economy. The third party plenum of the Chinese communist party indicted that China is setting the stage for the next round of ambitious economic reforms. The new reforms now under consideration will benefit the Asian countries greatly.