Biden won't make headway in China if he repeats 'erroneous' remarks

BY BEN BLANCHARD

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden should not expect to make much progress in defusing tensions over the East China Sea if he plans to repeat "erroneous and one-sided remarks" on the issue when he visits China, a top state-run paper said on Wednesday. Beijing's decision to declare an air defense identification zone in an area that includes disputed islands has triggered protests from the United States, Japan and South Korea and dominated Biden's talks in Tokyo on Tuesday. The United States has made clear it will stand by treaty obligations that require it to defend the Japanese-controlled islands, but it is also reluctant to get dragged into any military clash between rivals Japan and China.

Biden is scheduled to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Vice President Li Yuanchao in Beijing on Wednesday before flying to Seoul later in the week. But he "should not expect any substantial headway if he comes simply to repeat his government's previous erroneous and one-sided remarks", the official English-language China Daily, often used by China to get its message across to the outside world, said in a strongly worded editorial. "If the U.S. is truly committed to lowering tensions in the region, it must first stop acquiescing to Tokyo's dangerous brinkmanship. It must stop emboldening belligerent Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to constantly push the envelope of Japan's encroachments and provocations." All aircraft have to report flight plans to Chinese authorities, maintain radio contact and reply promptly to identification inquiries under the zone's rules. U.S., Japanese and South Korean military aircraft have breached the zone without informing Beijing since it was announced on November 23. Japanese and South Korean commercial carriers have also been told by their governments to ignore the rules. China has repeatedly said the zone was designed to reduce the risk of misunderstandings, and stressed that since it was set up there had been no issues with freedom of flight for civilian airlines. The Defense Ministry on Tuesday slammed what it said were "distortions" and "mud throwing" over the zone and the country's intentions. "It is not aimed at any specific country or target, and it certainly does not constitute a threat towards any country or region," ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said in a statement.

NERVOUS REGION

Still, the move has added to regional nervousness about China's strategic intentions as Beijing presses its territorial claims in the South China Sea and ramps up an ambitious military modernization program.

In Tokyo, Biden called on Japan and China to find ways to reduce tensions, repeating Washington was "deeply concerned" by the announcement of the zone.

However, influential Chinese tabloid the Global Times, published by the Communist Party's official People's Daily, noted that Biden had not come down heavily on Japan's side, saying he failed to "sate Japan's appetite" for strong words. White House spokesman Jay Carney said on Tuesday that China's decision was a provocative attempt to change the status quo in the East China Sea and urged Beijing not to implement the zone. He urged China to work with Japan and South Korea "to establish confidence-building measures, including emergency communications channels, to address the dangers its recent announcement has created and to lower tensions". The China Daily said it was obvious Washington had taken Tokyo's side in the dispute.

"Biden needs to be reminded that Japan holds the key to peacefully solving the East China Sea dispute, because it is the Abe administration's recalcitrant denial of the existence of a dispute that has prevented Beijing and Tokyo from conducting meaningful communication and crisis control," it said.

China wants Japan first to acknowledge that a formal dispute over sovereignty exists, experts say, a step that Tokyo has rejected for fear it would undermine its claim over the islands, known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China.

"Again, our timely visitor needs to be told: It is Japan that has unilaterally changed the status quo... China is just responding to Japanese provocations."