The territorial dispute between Japan and China over uninhabited islands in the East China Sea just got more dangerous. At the weekend, Beijing continued its strategy of slowly ratcheting up the pressure on Tokyo when it declared an “air defence identification zone” covering airspace over the disputed islands. Aeroplanes entering the zone will need to identify themselves or face what Beijing said would be “defensive emergency measures”. Given that Japanese aircraft regularly patrol the area in what Tokyo considers its own airspace, Beijing’s move appears to increase the chance of a clash, accidental or otherwise.
中日圍繞東中國海無人居住羣島的領土爭端剛剛危險升級。上週末，中國政府宣佈劃設東海「防空識別區」，將爭端羣島上空空域包括在內，顯示中國政府仍在繼續實施對日本政府緩慢增壓的策略。未來進入該防空識別區的飛機必須提供識別方式，否則將被施以中國政府所謂的「防禦性緊急處置措施」。鑑於日本飛機會定期巡邏日本政府視爲自己領空的區域，中國政府此舉看上去會增大中日發生衝突的可能性，無論衝突是否是意外的。