China relies on cooling US hand By Francesco Sisci

SINOGRAPH
China relies on cooling US hand
By Francesco Sisci 

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/CHIN-01-021213.html

BEIJING - Perhaps at the end of the day there are two ways to look at China's establishment of an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) around the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands, which are disputed with Japan. Yes, many countries have an ADIZ, including neighboring Japan, and China perhaps sooner or later would have to establish one. But clearly China's new ADIZ was not a routine
move but a way to press ahead with the claims on the Senkakus, held by Tokyo. 

The new ADIZ was, firstly, part of a grand strategy to confront neighboring countries and expand China's territorial reach. Or, secondly, it was a mistake, a gross miscalculation of the present regional balance in the seas around China. 

If it was part of a strategy, well, this is almost useless to think about because this strategy would be self-defeating and bound to take China down the path of self-destruction because it has too many powerful neighbors to try to expand at their expense. Moreover, expansion would be contrary to decades of the strategy of peaceful development and contrary to the recent pronouncement by Chinese President Xi Jinping calling for improved ties with the neighbors.