Live Rounds And Fighting Talk Are Flying About The East China Sea's Disputed Islands

When Chinese and Japanese fighters met for the first time over disputed islands in the East China Sea earlier this month, Japan promptly declared its right to fire tracers at China's jets in any following confrontations.

Though met with outrage by China at the time, Japan's continuing to promote the live firing which China is calling the "first shot".

The Tokyo AP reports ext

Japan believes it's simply following protocol:

“Every country has procedures for how to deal with a violation of its territory that continues after multiple cautionary measures,” Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said Wednesday when asked if tracer shots would be fired against intruding aircraft that refuse to change course. “We have response measures ready that are consistent with global standards.”

Onodera said the use of warning shots has long been provided for under Japan’s defense policies and is widely accepted under international rules of engagement. Japan’s air force has not actually resorted to them since 1987 — against a Soviet aircraft — and none were fired last week.

Japan may be using the tracer fire to gauge Chinese reaction. If so, it cannot have been disappointed.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Sunday his country is on "high alert" and that Japan and the U.S. are ignoring the fact that "the islands are China’s inherent territory."

Never to be left out, Chinese military academics quoted in Beijing's state-run media provided far more fiery replies:

“Japan’s desire to fire tracer warning shots as a way of frightening the Chinese is nothing but a joke that shows the stupidity, cruelty and failure to understand their own limitations,” Maj. Gen. Peng Guangqian of the Chinese Academy of Military Sciences was quoted saying by the China News Service and other state media.

“Firing tracer bullets is a type of provocation; it’s firing the first shot,” he said. “Were Japan to dare to fire tracers, which is to say fire the first shot, then China wouldn’t stint on responding and not allow them to fire the second shot.”

China then released photos of its East Fleet's 052 destroyer during live fire exercises in the disputed area. The manuevers involved both its East and South Fleets and simulated actual combat scenarios. Along with multiple jet fighters and surface vessels, The South China Morning Post ext

reports it as the first time naval air forces employed air-to-air missiles so far out to sea.

A second massive drill January 8, had Hong-6 bombers ext

flying eight hours runs while evading radar and electromagnetic interference like they'd encounter in actual combat. One Beijing based naval expert said the drills would only be increasing, along with exercises by other factions of the People's Army.

As any potential island seizure would involve ground troops, China's also announced the country's army aviation unit of attack helicopters will shift its logistics mission to prepare for combat.

The Times of India quotes the PLA Daily ext

, China's official military newspaper:

The unit will work on major missions such as long-distance tasks, large scale offshore operations, attack coordination with other units and large scale airborne operations, it said, adding that the unit will also aim to improve its operation capability based on IT technologies.

The English PLA Daily army section has several announcements related to its helicopter units ext

, their accelerated training ext

, and even troops psychological readiness for "military transportation in high-tech wars ext

".

Finally, because war preparation takes many forms, China's Communist Party news site the Global Times ext

reports Beijing's new subway lines are fully online and able to withstand chemical, biological, and nuclear attacks.

The tunnels have gates that form a seal between below ground and the street.

From the Global Times ext

:

Jiang Hao, an engineer from the 4th Engineer Design & Research Institute of General Staff Department, said that the gates for civil defense have already been used in the subway in cities like Nanjing in Jiangsu Province and Shenyang in Liaoning Province.

"The new facilities also have other defensive capabilities like emergency communication equipment at each station, which makes effective communication possible during a conflict," Jiang said at the conference.

Of course, all of this may be simply a matter of course as China exercises its financial ability and modernizes its military and its cities. The feud with Japan over the East China Sea islands comes as Japan also welcomes in a new leader Mr. Abe, eager to lift Japan from its economic doldrums.

It's difficult to say how much of this back-and-forth is posturing and how much is some kind of mad inexorable WWI-like slide toward the unimaginable.

*SEE ALSO: The F-15 Japan flies against China's newest jets > ext