중국 국방당국은 미국의 전략폭격기가 중국 이 최근 선포한 방공식별구역을 사전 통보 없이 비행한 데 대해 27일 "중국은 관련 공역에 대해 유효통제 능력을 갖추고 있다"고 경고했다.
중국 국방부 겅옌성(耿雁生) 대변인은 이날 중국의 법제만보(法制晩報) 측이 제 기한 관련 질문에 대해 "(방공식별구역에 진입한 미국 항공기의) 전 과정을 감시했고 즉각 식별했다"며 이같이 밝혔다.
겅 대변인은 “강조할 필요가 있는 것은 중국은 ‘동해 방공식별구역 항공기 식별 규정 공고’에 따라 앞으로 관련 구역 내에 있는 모든 항공기의 활동을 식별할 것”이라며 “중국은 관련 공역에 대해 유효하게 통제할 수 있는 능력이 있다”고 말했다.
중국은 지난 23일 우리나라와 일본이 각각 실효 지배 중인 이어도와 센카쿠(중국명 댜오위다오) 열도 상공을 포함하는 방공식 별구역(ADIZ)을 설정해 미국과 주변국들의 반발을 사고 있다.
이런 와중에 미국의 B-52 폭격기 두 대가 지난 25일 중국 측에 알리지 않은 채 동중국해 상공을 비무장 상태로 비행한 것을 두고 미국이 국제적으로 논란이 일고 있는 중국의 방공식별구역을 인정하지 않겠다는 의지를 밝힌 것이 아니냐는 해석이 나오고 있다.
미국 국방부 대변인실의 스티븐 워런 대령은 26일, 이번 비행은 정규 “코럴 라이트닝'(Coral Lightning) 훈련의 하나로 오래전에 계획된 것”이라고 설명한 바 있다.
워렌 대령은 이번 비행에 대해 해당 폭격기 들이 이 구역에 1시간 이내로 머물면서 사고 없이 임무를 완수했으며, 중국 측의 별도 대응은 없었다고 설명했다.
한편 미국 측은 계속해서 중국의 방공식별구역 선포에 대한 비난을 이어가고 있다.
미국 백악관은 전날, 중국의 이러한 행보를 “불필요한 선동적인 행위”라고 지적했다.
조시 어니스트 백악관 부대변인은 “해당 지역은 영유권 분쟁 중이고 이런 분쟁은 외교적으로 해결해야 한다”면서 “선동적이고 긴장을 고조시키는 말이나 어느 일방의 정책 선포가 아닌 공통된 의견 수렴을 통해 해결 방안을 모색해야 한다”고 강조했다.
또한 캐롤라인 케네디 주일 미국대사는 27일 도쿄에서 중국의 이러한 행보가 “안전을 해치는 것”이라고 공개적으로 비판했다.
<관련 영문 기사>
Sino-U.S. war of nerves intensifies
U.S. flies two strategic bombers over China’s air defense zone
By Song Sang-ho
Tension is mounting in Northeast Asia as the U.S. flew two nuclear-capable B-52 bombers through what China has recently designated as an air defense zone, apparently to protest the unilateral demarcation.
Taking off from their home base of Guam, the unarmed strategic bombers on Thursday flew through China’s air defense identification zone without prior notice and returned to its base.
Washington officials cast the deployment simply as part of the long-planned training mission. But analysts say it was an apparent show of force against Beijing’s unilateral pursuit of interests in aerial and maritime domains.
America’s major concern as to China’s increasing assertiveness is that based on its growing military might, the ascendant power would attempt to alter the norms and “rule-based” order that have maintained the status quo.
In particular, Washington has voiced its worries that Beijing with its aggressive military strategy could undermine the protection of “global commons” such as unfettered freedom of navigation and commerce in the region where vital sea lanes of communication converge.
“This announcement (of the air defense zone) from the Chinese government was unnecessarily inflammatory,” White House deputy spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.
“There are regional disputes in that part of the world and those disputes should be resolved diplomatically.”
China’s demarcation of the air zone, announced last Saturday, appeared designed to back up its claim to the East China Sea island chain called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China.
But the dispute is apparently escalating into major-power strong-arming with the U.S., which has explicitly supported Japan’s administrative control of the islands that are in a strategically crucial point for China to project its power further into the Pacific.
“The current dispute concerns China’s push for territorial integrity. And at the same time, it is Beijing’s response to the moves by the U.S. and Japan to strengthen its alliance (to keep China in check),” said Kim Tae-hyung, professor in the department of politics and diplomacy at Soongsil University.
“Sending the strategic bombers at this juncture carries some military nuance beyond what they call a training mission. Some period of heightened tensions between the U.S. and China seemed to be inevitable for the time being.”
China’s recently declared air zone incorporates key points that Beijing has long sought to break through to expand its sphere of influence.
The air zone covers areas over part of what analysts call “the first island chain” -- a string of archipelagos in the East Asia that links the Japanese archipelago, Ryukyu islands, Taiwan and the northern Philippines.
Under its long-term maritime strategy based on its growing naval clout, Beijing seeks to project power far beyond the “second island chain” linking Guam and Indonesia, and all the way into the “third island chain” -- waters near Hawaii.
Apparently to keep China in check and maintain its regional preponderance, Washington has, in recent years, employed a “rebalancing” policy toward the Asia-Pacific.
The policy seeks to engage its allies and partners to strengthen security cooperation, its leadership in multilateral institutions and its military presence in the region. The U.S. plans to bring 60 percent of its naval fleets into the region by 2020.
Japan’s strong reaction to China’s push for expanded maritime interests has further escalated regional military tensions. Tokyo, seeking heavier armament, said it would not accept China’s air demarcation.
“I am strongly concerned as it is a profoundly dangerous act that may cause unintended consequences,” Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told parliament.
Despite increasing tensions, experts say the U.S. and China might try to avoid any critical confrontation given their deepening economic interdependence, international conflict-management mechanisms and dozens of bilateral dialogue channels.
They also noted a plethora of domestic issues facing Washington and Beijing would, after all, prevent them from taking aggressive military approaches to address their conflicts.
The U.S. currently struggles with financial constraints and broader health care legislation, which China is grappling with income disparities, regional gaps between inland and coastal areas, political reform and corruption.
But Chinese history shows domestic conundrums including political upheavals did not always constrain the country’s military moves.
China fought against the U.S. during the Korean War in the early 1950s when it was struggling just a year after its national foundation in 1949. In 1962, China also went to war against India when it was reeling from the Great Leap Forward (a botched campaign to industrialize and collectivize China’s economy).
In 1969, China also engaged in an armed border conflict with the former Soviet Union despite extreme ideological division amid the Cultural Revolution.
(
sshluck@heraldcorp.com)
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