Illustration: Peter C.Espina/GT
Washington's maladroit handling of China's newly announced Air
Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) unnecessarily muddies the waters and
raises tensions over the East China Sea. Rather than reacting calmly in a
diplomatic manner, the US immediately militarized the situation by
sending B-52 bombers into China's zone.
No doubt Asians will draw
conclusions from Washington's latest "bull in the China shop" approach
to regional security issues. Some conclusions may not be favorable to
the US and its long-term interests, given this latest example of US
cowboy behavior.
Aviation around the globe is governed under
international law by the 1944 Chicago Convention on International Civil
Aviation, and is coordinated and regulated by the International Civil
Aviation Organization, a part of the UN system.
An ADIZ is
defined by legal experts to be an area in airspace over water or land
which may not necessarily be over the sovereign territory of a state in
which identification, locations, and control of all aircraft must be
provided in the interest of national security.
Washington's
berating China over its new ADIZ gives the appearance of double
standards. The US in fact maintains four ADIZ zones: the Contiguous US
ADIZ, Alaska ADIZ, Guam ADIZ and the Hawaii ADIZ.
There are over
20 countries in the world which have ADIZs including the UK, Pakistan,
and India. South Korea established its ADIZ in 1951, and Japan
established its ADIZ in the 1960s and extended it in 2010.
ADIZ
areas are not directly under the Chicago Convention, but can lend
support to the convention's objectives of promoting peace and security,
legal scholars say. ADIZ areas operate under the procedures given by the
countries which establish them.
The US has its own unique
procedures for its four ADIZ areas, and it has its own unique procedures
for the US military to deal with foreign ADIZ areas, such as the
procedures found in the US navy's Commander's Handbook on the Law of
Naval Operations.
The Obama administration's heated reaction to
China's ADIZ announcement was directed not only against the Chinese ADIZ
generally, but also against China's inclusion of the Diaoyu Islands in
it.
Washington's accusation that the zone is a destabilizing move
implies that China does not have the right to establish such a zone
while Japan does.
But how is it that over 20 countries around
the world established such zones and have been within their rights to do
so while Washington berates China?
In fact, the US action is
unprecedented as no such formal protest against the establishment of an
ADIZ has been lodged before against any country, experts say.
Japan
includes the Diaoyu Islands within its ADIZ. Why should China not do
the same? Given that the islands are a well-known matter of
international legal dispute, both sides would seem to have the right to
include them in their respective ADIZ areas.
For over four
decades, there has been disagreement in US policy circles over the issue
of the Diaoyu Islands with respect to their inclusion in the US-Japan
Mutual Defense Treaty.
Some US officials, such as Walter Mondale
when he was vice president of the US, maintained that the islands do
not fall under the treaty obligations of the US. Other officials leaning
toward the Japanese side, such as Kurt Campbell, alleged that they do
fall under the treaty. The Obama administration follows the Campbell
line.
Washington says it is neutral in the territorial dispute, but its actions clearly do not match its words.
By
including these disputed islands within the mutual defense treaty,
Washington binds itself unnecessarily to the Japanese side, and thus is
not neutral. Irresponsible actions concerning these islands by an
increasingly extremist Japan could quite unnecessarily plunge the US
into a war in a worst-case scenario.
China is well within its
rights under international law and practice to establish an ADIZ in
order to enhance its national security. It is certainly time for
Washington to drop its Cold War thinking and cowboy behavior in the
Asia-Pacific region.
The author is an educator and former
senior professional staff member of the Senate Committee on Foreign
Relations. opinion@globaltimes.com.cn
The first good job created for Sinkies by foreigners. Sinkies should be very grateful.
