In defiance of Beijing’s new ADIZ, South Korea’s Navy conduct air and sea drills near Ieodo Rock.

On Tuesday, the South Korean navy launched an air and sea military exercise in the area that China recently claimed as part of its East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).

On Wednesday, the Korea Joongang Daily reported that, “The Korean Navy yesterday launched a joint sea and air military drill near the waters surrounding Ieodo” Rock. The report said the drill consisted of two P-3C maritime patrol aircraft as well as one of the ROK Navy’s three Aegis destroyers.

The destroyer reportedly anchored around 200 meters from Ieodo, which both South Korea and China claim but Seoul administers. The Korea Joongang Daily report also said that the two P-3Cs, which are used in anti-submarine operations as well as for maritime surveillance, crossed into Japan’s ADIZ with the prior approval of Tokyo.

This fact suggests that South Korea and Japan are boosting their cooperation in the wake of China unilaterally declaring the East China Sea ADIZ two weekends ago. Seoul and Tokyo have long been at odds over their own territorial dispute as well as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s comments about Japan’s actions in the region during the first half of the 20th Century.

http://thediplomat.com/2013/12/south-korea-conducts-military-drill-in-chinas-adiz/

presence there to deter the Chinese.

Thats it. Just antagonize the hell out of em will solve the problem.

the one antagonizing its neighbors?

As residents of a hard-hit Philippine town were being guided onto a cargo plane during the height of the post-typhoon aid effort, one individual refused to be ushered in.

He was wearing tattered clothes but, suspiciously, had a brand-new camera. And he was using it to snap photos not of the evacuees he was with, but of the US military aircraft on the runway.

US and allied officials concluded that he was a spy for China.

Military officers on the ground took the reported spy games in stride. “I don’t think there’s a lot they don’t know about our capabilities,” says Lt. Col. Rod Legowski, operations officer for the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade. “Taking pictures isn’t going to do them that much good.”

But the episode offers a fascinating window into the high-stakes US-China chess match taking place in the region. As the Pentagon forges ahead with its strategic shift toward Asia, the Philippines is likely to be a “key link” in US national security efforts in the region, according to a Congressional Research Service (CRS) report.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Security-Watch/2013/1204/US-China-spy-games-in-storm-hit-Philippines-Pacific-power-play-simmers.-video?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Daily&utm_campaign=20131204_Newsletter%3ADaily_Sailthru&cmpid=ema%3Anws%3ADaily%2520Newsletter%2520%2812-04-2013%29

China’s military imposed a destabilizing air defense zone over the East China Sea without consulting the United States, and top Pentagon leaders said Wednesday there have been no contacts with their Chinese counterparts since the zone was set up Nov. 23.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said at a press conference at the Pentagon that the Chinese air zone is destabilizing the region.

However, both leaders declined to urge China to roll back the air defense identification zone, or ADIZ, as Japan’s government has demanded of the Chinese.

The lack of U.S.-China consultation and communication highlights what observers say is a failure of three decades of exchanges aimed at building trust between the two militaries.

“I have not spoken to my Chinese counterpart. I’ve spoken to our allies about the Chinese ADIZ,” Hagel said.

Dempsey said he attempted to contact the People’s Liberation Army chief of staff, Gen. Fang Fenghui.

“I have actually reached out to the schedulers to connect me with my Chinese counterpart,” Dempsey said. “I suspect it’ll occur following the vice president’s visit.”

Vice President Joe Biden met with top Chinese leaders in Beijing on Wednesday, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, to discuss the air defense zone.

http://freebeacon.com/pentagon-china-failed-to-consult-before-imposing-air-defense-zone/

Giving no ground, Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. Vice President Joe Biden traded strong arguments Wednesday over China’s contentious new air defense zone, with no indication of progress toward defusing a situation that is raising anxieties across Asia and beyond.

Though Biden made clear the deep concern of the U.S. and other countries during the 5½ hours of talks — themselves highly unusual for an American vice president and Chinese president — Xi vigorously made his case, too, for China’s declaration of new rules concerning a strip of airspace more than 600 miles long above disputed islands in the East China Sea.

The U.S. worries that China’s demand that pilots entering the airspace file flight plans with Beijing could lead to an accident or a confrontation spiraling dangerously out of control. Now it is up to the Chinese to take steps to lower tensions, and “it’s a question of behavior and action,” said a U.S. official, who briefed reporters on the private talks.

The official was not authorized to be quoted by name and spoke only on condition of anonymity.

Though Biden expressed no disappointment in public remarks, the outcome of his visit was not what the U.S. might have hoped for.

http://www.militarytimes.com/article/20131204/NEWS/312040028/China-gives-no-ground-Biden-air-zone-dispute

just before going into important talks like that.

Remarks that he must have known would be taken as incitement to revolution by Chinese leaders really aren't helpful when you want to discuss matters like this with those leaders the very next day.

Also, US-based multinationals, as well as their concubines in government and media. Them vs the MIC. Man oh man; Talk about a wedge issue!

The Cold War was a good thing for certain interests.

IMO, most likely. Fear-mongering and confrontation have their uses. There must be a lot of oil (potentially) involved, as nothing else would justify the energy and expense required to stage this event.

Moral of the story: Wherever you see armed conflict or threat of armed conflict in the world these days, chances are, oil/fossil fuel energy is significantly involved.