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Biden says China, Japan must communicate to end dispute
by Staff Writers
Tokyo (AFP) Dec 03, 2013


Biden heads to China amid air zone tensions
Beijing (AFP) Dec 03, 2013 - US Vice President Joe Biden arrives in Beijing on Wednesday amid rising friction over a Chinese air zone, needing to tread between bolstering ties with the rising power and underscoring alliances with Tokyo and Seoul.

His trip -- which began in Japan and ends in South Korea -- follows weeks of furore after Beijing declared an "air defence identification zone" (ADIZ) covering East China Sea islands also claimed by Japan.

The decades-old dispute between the historic rivals flared after Tokyo bought some of the islands from their private owners in September 2012.

Since then, Beijing has sent ships and aircraft to nearby waters while Japan scrambled fighter jets on hundreds of occasions, raising concerns of an unintended clash.

"This underscores the need for crisis management mechanisms and effective channels of communication between China and Japan to reduce risk of escalation," Biden said in a joint press conference on Tuesday with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

"I will be raising these concerns in great specificity directly when I meet with the Chinese leadership," he said. "We will remain steadfast in our alliance's commitment."

A US official said it was especially important "that we continue to amplify our messages that we are and always will be there for our allies", adding that "there is a way for two major powers, in the US and China, to build a different kind of relationship for the 21st century".

Beijing provoked widespread anger late last month by declaring an ADIZ in which all aircraft had to obey Chinese orders or face unspecified "defensive emergency measures".

Washington, Tokyo and Seoul all sent military or paramilitary planes into the zone in defiance of Beijing's rules, while the US re-iterated its security pact with Japan.

China for its part has accused the US and Japan -- which both have ADIZs -- of double standards, saying the real provocateur is Tokyo.

A senior administration official in Washington said Biden would discuss the wider concerns raised by the China's defence zone declaration.

"It also allows the vice president ... to make the broader point that there's an emerging pattern of behaviour by China that is unsettling to China's own neighbours and raising questions about how China operates in international space and how China deals with areas of disagreement with its neighbours," the official said.

Biden -- who is set to meet with President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and Vice President Li Yuanchao -- will also have "a very wide-ranging dialogue" on other issues, the official said.

Officials stressed that the trip was planned before recent tensions and was aimed at emphasising that the "United States is a resident Pacific power, we're here to stay and we're actively engaged on the full spectrum of issues in the region".

Biden will fly on Thursday to South Korea to meet President Park Geun-Hye and mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations, which the White House called a "linchpin of regional security".

Japan and China need more sophisticated communication strategies if they are to work through their territorial row, US Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday as he vowed Washington would stand by Tokyo.

Biden, in Tokyo at the start of a three-nation tour of Asia, said he will be talking "in great specificity" with Chinese leaders about Beijing's sudden declaration last month of an air defence zone, including over islands disputed with Japan.

"We, the United States, are deeply concerned by the attempt to unilaterally change the status quo in the East China Sea," Biden told reporters in a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

"This action has raised regional tension and increased the risk of accidents and miscalculations."

Tensions in the region are at their highest in years, with China and Japan squaring off over a chain of uninhabited islands in a feud that has some observers warning of the danger of an armed confrontation.

The US, bound to Tokyo by a security treaty, is looking on alarmed at the growing chances of limited hostilities between the world's second largest economy and Washington's chief ally in the Asia-Pacific.

Observers say rising China, buoyed by its surging economy, is becoming more confident and the dispute with Japan is part of a larger effort to stamp its authority on a region long dominated by the US.

Nerves are particularly frayed after Beijing's proclamation of an Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ), in which it says all aircraft must obey its instructions or risk unspecified "defensive emergency measures".

The move was flatly rejected by the governments of the US, Japan and South Korea.

"This underscores the need for crisis management mechanisms and effective channels of communication between China and Japan to reduce risk of escalation," Biden told reporters.

"I will be raising these concerns in great specificity directly when I meet with the Chinese leadership the day after tomorrow," he said.

And he vowed that the United States, which has a security treaty that compels it to come to Japan's aid if it is attacked militarily, would stand by its ally.

"We will remain steadfast in our alliance's commitment," he said.

Abe has been looking for robust backing over his position that Beijing is being unreasonable and aggressive. He was heartened when US B-52 bombers flew into China's ADIZ just days after it was announced.

"We... confirmed that we should not tolerate the attempt by China to change the status quo unilaterally by force and we will continue to work closely in dealing with the situation based on the strong US-Japan alliance," the Japanese premier said.

"We reaffirmed that policies and measures, including those on operation of Self Defense Forces (Japan's military) and US forces, are not changed and that we will maintain close cooperation."

Beijing's announcement of the ADIZ also provoked anger in Seoul, which, like Tokyo and Washington sent official planes into the zone without notifying China.

The shared reaction in Japan and South Korea marked a rare moment of harmony in a relationship marked by friction over shared history that hobbles US attempts to bring its two chief regional allies together.

"We believe that Northeast Asia will be strongest when its two leading democracies work together to meet common threats, and when the three of us -- the United States, Japan and the Republic of Korea -- work together to advance common interests and values," Biden told the Asahi Shimbun newspaper ahead of his trip.

Some analysts believe the declaration of the zone was a far-sighted move by Beijing in its campaign to undermine Japan's claims to control disputed islands, and ultimately, push the US out of the western Pacific.

Others, however, say it looked more like an over-reach by an administration that did not fully anticipate the vehemence of the reaction.

China's defence ministry spokesman in a statement late Tuesday defended the zone, saying it was in line with international conventions and did not threaten any specific country.

But the 1,000-word statement on the official Xinhua news agency strongly criticised Japanese actions over the disputed islands since September last year.

"Japan's actions have seriously harmed China's legitimate rights and security interests, and undermined the peace and stability in east Asia. China has to take necessary reactions," it said.

Biden will move to Beijing on Wednesday to hold talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping before flying to Seoul, where he is to meet President Park Geun-Hye.

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