Tension Between the United States and China

When Obama was starting his second term he had two foreign policy areas which he intended to emphasize: firstly, giving more time to the Asia-Pacific region and secondly, avoiding getting bogged down in the Middle East’s problems. However, his plans seem to have gone awry. For U.S. foreign policy, Iran, Syria and the Israel-Arab issues are still more important than East Asia. Obama can’t completely distance himself from the Middle East. Nor can he completely focus on Asia. Last month as a result of the budget crisis and the temporary shutdown of the government, Obama was unable to take a much-anticipated trip to the Asia-Pacific region. Obama, whose support is the lowest it has been during his second term as a result of amateur errors related to Obamacare, still seems like he won’t be able to take that trip to the Asia-Pacific.

As if all this wasn’t enough, last week the situation in the East China Sea began to heat up unexpectedly. In a statement made last week, the Chinese defense minister announced to the world that it was setting up a new air defense zone in the region. China gave a reminder that all planes entering this air defense zone were required to give notification, identify themselves and abide by Chinese rules.

Japan, the United States and South Korea announced that they did not accept this new air defense zone. To show that they didn’t accept such a unilateral decision, the United States sent a B-52 bomber on a flight in the region. However, in order to avoid risk and especially to prevent an unnecessary accident between civilian aircraft, the administration in Washington advised American airline companies to inform the Chinese authorities before entering the newly declared air defense zone. The Americans didn’t neglect to add that such a recommendation did not mean that they accepted the new defense zone.

How should these developments be read? In fact, the tension in this area caused by periodic flights by Chinese warplanes over disputed islands under Japanese supervision is not exactly new. However, the new development is the level to which China’s strong and aggressive politics have raised the tension. Those who were awaiting more constructive leadership from the new leaders of the Chinese Communist Party are surprised. Some experts believe that China, because of the poor performance of its economy, is entering a period of increased nationalism and populism.

The timing of these developments is extremely unfortunate for the Obama administration. Vice President Joseph Biden, who will visit China and the surrounding region next week, was expected to focus on developing areas of economic cooperation between China and the U.S. However, the air defense zone will now take precedence over a list of other topics. The real issue to watch is the kind of strategy the United States plans to take with China from now on. For close to 20 years this strategy has been based simultaneously on economic engagement and military containment. It is nearly impossible for the United States to break its economic engagement with China because of its continuing dependence on China in that area. However, trying to contain an increasingly strong and assertive Chinese military will undoubtedly endanger economic cooperation. Obama, who is finding it impossible to disengage himself from the Middle East, has to start working overtime on the Asia-Pacific region.