Xi Jinping Overreaches in the East China Sea
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Nov. 29 (Bloomberg) -- The Communist Party summit thatrecast Xi Jinping as a reformer extraordinaire has produced itsfirst foreign-policy initiative: poking Japan in the eye.
That seems to be the point of China’s declaration of a vast“air defense identification zone,” in which Beijing hasessentially claimed the airspace around disputed islandsadministered by Japan. The provocation came just two weeks afterthe party called for a new national security council tocoordinate military, domestic and intelligence operations inChina. Political analysts who worried that the body might heralda deepening Asian Cold War weren’t being entirely paranoid.