Chinese Pressure Cooker: East China Sea Activity, Double Standards, Internal Security Threats

• Japan’s ministry of defense posted their account (with maps) of Chinese aircraft operating in the East China Sea over the last two years. Japan has been scrambling jets sometimes several times a day in response, though in fairness, there was just a single episode of China intruding on Japanese airspace, above the contested Senkaku Islands.

• Japan will create a 3,000 naval infantry corps likely based on the southern island of Kyushu.

• Chinese state media is pressuring the Japanese government about plutonium stockpiles reportedly about to be sent back to the US, pending an agreement at the forthcoming Nuclear Security Summit. This, from the prime instigator of nuclear proliferation (US Congressional Research Service PDF backgrounder). What’s the compound ideogram for “deliberate lack of self-awareness”?

• A recent knife attack in Kunming in which 33 people were killed is the latest in a long list of killings motivated by regional separatism, possibly mixed with some level of international jihadist involvement. In any case these attacks have occurred beyond just the Xinjiang north-western region, fueling rumors of more to come. The Chinese government will address complaints from the Uyghur minority, conveniently lumped with terrorism, by continuing the beating until morale improves. As its Central Asian neighbors are realizing, China’s pressure is not just political but also demographic and cultural. China calls the Kunming attack their 9/11 and is seeking international sympathy and support, as they’re about to kick off the second session of their 12th National People’s Congress.