RAISE COUNTRY RISK ON JAPAN, DUE TO INCREASED EAST CHINA SEA DANGERS

The Ministry of National Defense of China has announced the creation of an East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), which maps show as a vast area extending far out past Chinese territorial waters, and including the Japanese-held, but disputed Senkaku (Diaoyu) Islands, north of Taiwan. This action, which Japan has objected to, greatly increases the risk of military incidents between it and China, and could easily provoke a return to a Chinese embargo on the export of heavy metals, without which Japan's high-tech manufacturing industries cannot exist.

The new directive requires that all aircraft flying in the ADIZ:

(1) Must file a flight plan with Chinese authorities.
(2) Must maintain two-way radio communication, and respond to Chinese requests for identification.
(3) Must be equipped with a functioning transponder, and it must be operated in the ADIZ.
(4) Must have aircraft markings that indicate nationality, and tail number must be displayed.
(5) Must follow instructions of Chinese authorities, and properly identify themselves, while flying in the ADIZ, or face "defensive emergency measures."

Official Chinese version of the East China Sea ADIZ   

The Ministry of National Defense is the specified administrative agency that foreign aircraft will be required to obey. Obviously, there is a high probability that confrontations between Japanese aircraft, either on patrol in the new ADIZ, which abuts the Ryukyu islands, as well as contains Senkaku, will occur. it could also result in close encounters with American, Taiwanese, and even South Korean combat aircraft. It may also affect, or even impede, commercial passenger jet travel transiting East China Sea airspace, en route several countries in East Asia, especially Japan.

Under the circumstances, and until and unless the ADIZ is operated by China, with respect for all its neighbors, as well as international aviation, one should raise Country Risk on Japan immediately.