East China Sea Tensions Soar as China Scrambles Fighter Jets Against US/Japan

According to government officials in Beijing, the Chinese on Friday scarmbled fighter jets over the East China Sea in order to assess and monitor the presence of US and Japanese military aircraft flying inside airspace that both China and Japan now claim as their own.

“In almost all games of chicken, each side underestimates the other’s will to risk disaster rather than accept humiliation. This could end quite badly.” –journalist, analyst Gwynne Dyer

Tensions over what China has declared as an “air defense zone” have dramatically increased in the last several days with some worried that a stand-off that pits the rising power of the Chinese military against a Japanese-US alliance could escalate with unknown consequences.

As the New York Times reports:

And the Guardian adds:

Providing further perspective on the situation, independent journalist and commentator Gwynne Dyer, writing at Common Dreams Thursday, described the tensions over the air defense zone as a game of chicken—a dangerous one:

__________________________________