2/28/2023 0 Comments Taiwan air defense zone mapThe above misperceptions, which were possibly caused by technical flaws in analyzing, to some extent, have led to strategic misunderstanding and worsened the distrust between governments in the region. Notable misperceptions include: first, China’s ECS ADIZ includes the disputed Diaoyu Dao Islands second, China’s ADIZ rules do not distinguish between civil and state aircraft third, the Chinese rules apply to all aircraft flying in the ADIZ, and make no exception for aircraft not intending to enter Chinese national airspace. ![]() Unfortunately, some scholars, without sufficient evidence and thorough analysis, have misinterpreted certain legal facts of China’s East China Sea (ECS) ADIZ, which is usually described by them as being unlike other ADIZs-a lack of knowledge of China’s ADIZ policies and other countries’ ADIZ practices (especially the evolution of US ADIZ rules since 1950) has fueled misperceptions in the international community. Though a common legal framework governing the establishment or enforcement of ADIZs does not exist, scholars should work together to help policymakers develop an international-law-based comprehensive understanding about the theory and practice of ADIZs. China should pursue non-confrontation resolution to island territorial pursuits, especially in the contexts of efforts to develop a peaceful and cooperative 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road. This paper argues that SDPJD’s success is dependent upon separating ‘sovereignty belongs to China’ from ‘shelving disputes’ and ‘pursuing joint development’ and perhaps abandoning the former principle entirely. The prominence granted to ‘sovereignty belongs to China’ is linked to outmoded understanding of the concept of sovereignty and the tendency for Chinese scholars and officials to regard island territorial disputes as the zero-sum games. This is in part because, whereas ‘shelving disputes’ and ‘pursuing joint development’ are cooperative in nature, ‘sovereignty belongs to China’ is inherently confrontational. Although SDPJD aims to peacefully settle China’s island territorial disputes in the East China Sea (Diaoyu Islands) and the South China Sea (Spratly Islands), the policy has not been particularly successful in practice. SDPJD is, however, commonly understood to be tripartite policy, in which ‘shelving disputes’ and ‘pursuing joint development’ are made conditional upon the principle of ‘sovereignty belongs to China’. ‘Shelving Disputes and Pursuing Joint Development’ (SDPJD) has for decades been China’s premier policy for resolving territorial disputes, especially those regarding islands. Our analysis suggests a series of takeaways both for International Relations theory and for managing relations with China. Social practices of rule-making, in short, provide vital context. ![]() These do not, however, provide satisfactory accounts either of China's behaviour or of the international response in the absence of recognising the crucial importance of second-order rules for making, interpreting, and applying first-order rules in the international system. What explains China's whiplash behaviour? Why has the international community largely failed to notice recent changes and adjust the narrative accordingly? We argue that the answers to these questions lie in an eclectic appeal to bureaucratic struggles, the regime's two-level game balancing domestic and international pressures, and psychological considerations. ![]() This stands in stark contrast to the previous four years in which China rather shockingly began asserting itself with little regard for either legality or diplomatic nicety – the period in which the “aggressive China” narrative gelled. Since 2016, China has strenuously sought – and largely managed – not to be in technical violation of the Philippines Arbitration Tribunal ruling despite having publicly disavowed it and has attempted to position itself as a champion of win–win co-operation. We argue that this narrative misreads both the substance and dynamics of recent Chinese policy. Most analysts and commentators portray China's conduct in the South China Sea as a series of aggressive norm violations by an emerging peer competitor to the United States.
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