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Mid-air incident over disputed islands results in four missing Chinese and Japanese pilots
Mid-air incident over disputed islands results in four missing Chinese and Japanese pilots
(Reuters) - An armed engagement occured between Chinese and Japanese fighters over a set of disputed islands earlier this morning. All four pilots involved are currently unaccounted for. Chinese and Japanese authorities have issued conflicting statements regarding the event.
Earlier today, two pairs of Chinese and Japanese aircraft engaged each other during "sovereignty patrols" over waters bordering a set of disputed islands in the East China Sea. All four pilots involved were reported missing by noon.
The fighter engagement and the fate of the missing pilots loomed over upcoming multilateral security consultations in Seoul, underscoring tensions that threaten to derail talks started under the prior set of East Asian leaders.
In a noon press conference held in Beijing, newly appointed Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Shenghan lodged "a formal complaint" over the latest territorial quarrel between Asia's two biggest economies. He demanded that Japan allow China to search the disputed islands for fighter wreckage and its missing pilots. The Japanese side refused, citing security concerns and the fact that the islands were Japanese territory.
Zhang also demanded an apology from Japan, stating that a Japanese Air Self-Defense Force fighter opened fire first, after the other Japanese plane malfunctioned and crashed into the water. When pressed for flight records or transcripts that would support China's account of events, he demurred, citing confidentiality and national security concerns.
In an afternoon press conference held in Tokyo, Japanese Foreign Minister Minobe Naoko rebutted China's account of this morning's events, stating that they were based on pure speculation and that Japan would release its own version of the events by noon the next day.
Minobe also requested that China share its emergency transponder frequencies and shortwave communications codes, to allow Japanese authorities to conduct a search for any Chinese survivors of the engagement.
In a written statement, United States Deputy Secretary of State Rexon Ryu called for restraint on all sides. He also said that while the US does not take a position on the sovereignty of the islands, they do fall under a treaty which obligates the US to defend Japan if it were attacked, but noted the Japan-US alliance should not be construed by China as American support for the Japanese point of view on the island standoff.
At a fundraiser for the right-wing Japan Restoration Party, Japanese MP Ishii Shinobu, widely expected to become Prime Minister following the upcoming Japanese parliamentary elections, gave a speech implying that his son was involved in this morning's events. In the speech, Ishii referred to him as a "true hero". Japanese government officials refused to comment on the veracity of the speech, instead stating that their thoughts went out to Ishii and his family.
The incident overshadows the third round of the Northeast Asia Security Summit, an annual forum for disarmament talks set up in the wake of the devastating Indo-Pakistani War of 2019. China and Japan are both full participants, along with Russia, the United States, and South Korea. Peace activists in the region had hoped the invitation of North Korea and the Republic of China (Taiwan) to the latest round of talks would lead to an opportunity for peaceful resolution of sovereignty issues in both conflicts.
Paul Bergmann, senior research fellow at the Brookings Institute, noted that the goals of the talks were "too ambitious anyways" and expected that the talks would become "even less productive" as a result of the incident.
Dong Xiumei, a researcher at the Chinese Institute of International Studies, believes that neither China nor Japan will back out of the talks as a result of the morning's events, although he noted that "both sides may substantially harden their positions and make negotiations difficult as a result."
Asian markets reacted mildly to the incident, with the Nikkei, Shanghai, and Hang Seng indices all registering initial selloffs but ending the day with net gains. Goldman Sachs analyst Jack Ferriman believes a successful conclusion to the security summit would be a "positive surprise" for the market.
Captain Kang Zongqi, helmetless, sat and watched the sun dissolve into the receding tide beyond his bare, salt-encrusted toes. The rocky outcropping was an ideal spot to keep an eye on the Japanese destroyers circling the island, and also offered a reasonable level of concealment. Now, one hand on a rolled-up tube of Hunan pork, the other on his military-issue tablet, he set about composing a formal after-action report.
"Began engaging Japanese fighter at... what was the altitude?" Zongqi mumbled to himself, then drew an eight and zero on the touchscreen. "Number of missiles fired? How many did I shoot?" Even though the day's aerial combat had occured barely ten hours ago, a fog had descended across his memory. He set the tablet down, lay back and stared the advancing evening sky, and breathed. To the east, the stars were beginning to show, bright pinpricks in a curtain of purple. His nostrils inhaled sweet ocean air, colored by a smell he could not identify.
The helmet buzzed. Turning over, he reached for it, heard the voice of Colonel Wu Taifu. "White Horse calling Archer One, White Horse calling Archer One. Please respond, over."
"Colonel, this is Captain Kang."
"Finally got you on the line. Did you go bathing in the ocean or something?" A laugh, distorted into crackling popcorn by the shortwave. "Anyhow, everything fine?"
"Good, boss, thanks for asking." Their tone had become decidedly more conversational as the day wore on. Zongqi sensed that command was trying to put him at ease--or maybe throw off the Japanese or American SIGINT that was no doubt monitoring their channel. "When I look out of my left eye, it's still pretty blurry, but it seems to be getting better. The Japanese ships are still sticking around, too. Earlier, I thought I saw them launching small boats into the water--recovering wreckage, maybe--although they don't seem to be interested in coming ashore."
"Got it." A pause, muffled voices, sounds of fingers on a keyboard. "Well, just sit tight for now. Come tomorrow evening, we'll have an action plan in place. Which side of the island are you on?"
"I'm currently sitting on the southwest side, although I can move if needed."
"Good, stay there. If it gets cold at night, feel free to light a fire. Our intel suggests the Japanese haven't decided to try and pick you up anytime soon, so you should be safe." Then a click.
Zongqi stood up, gathered his helmet and shoes, and made his way back to his small camp at the edge of the treeline. The wind picked up speed, bringing a slight chill. The leaves and twigs of the forest floor were wet. He gathered them into a pile, tried igniting it with his lighter, and failed. He scratched his head, then turned back towards the beach, seeing sun-dried piles of driftwood scattered across the sand. Shrugging, he walked back towards the outcropping, gathering driftwood along the way, when the smell came back, oily, pungent, stronger than ever.
Zongqi cocked his head, set down the driftwood, and began following his nose. Around a hundred meters past the outcropping, he sliced his toe open on a one-meter-long piece of jagged metal protruding from the sand. He stared at it for a good ten seconds before recognizing it as a vertical stabilizer. Curiosity drove him to dig and made him forget the pain in his foot. The piece grew looser, until with one final pull, it came free. A large red dot stared back at him, the sign of the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force.
Then he heard a cough. Two meters to his right lay another pilot, face-up in a thin sheet of sand cemented by dried blood. He tried moving a leg, screamed. Zongqi fell backwards in shock. The man coughed again, turned to face Zongqi, and repeated a single word:
"Mizu..."
Zongqi shook his head and rotated his palms up in the universal sign of "I don't understand." The man snorted soft, bitter laughter, in response. Then he reached out, held up a pale, shaking index finger. On the sand beside them, he drew the common Chinese and Japanese kanji for water.
Zongqi blinked, understood, limped to and from the camp. After the Japanese pilot finished off one salt-encrusted bottle, he asked for more water, but Zongqi was busy speaking into his helmet.
Colonel Wu Taifu phoned his wife when their conversation was over. He would be staying at the office all night.
Read part 14 here:
http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?id=397300
