By Kim Jong-chan
Deputy Managing Editor
A Japanese destroyer and at least one helicopter briefly entered South Korea’s air defense zone near the easternmost islets of Dokdo three weeks ago but both left the area after a warning. The destroyer came as close as 48 km to the air defense zone near the islets. The Korean military immediately dispatched F-15K jet fighters and a destroyer to the area.
The Japanese breach of Korean air space came amid a diplomatic row between the two countries over Dokdo, following a visit to the islets by President Lee Myung-bak in August. Lee was the first Korean head of state to visit Dokdo. Japan has repeatedly renewed its claim to Dokdo, which lies closer to South Korea in the body of water between the Korean Peninsula and Japan.
Tensions also mounted over territorial disputes between China and Japan and other Asian countries in the East and South China Seas. The dispute is centered on the question of ownership of an archipelago, known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese. The region is believed to be rich in oil and gas reserves.
China has increased military activities in the region since the Japanese government announced plans to purchase three of the islands in the chain from their private Japanese owners in mid-September, a move that triggered protests, sometimes violent, in China.
The Chinese navy was reported to have conducted live fire exercises on a nearby uninhabited island on Sept. 30. A Chinese Internet news outlet, without mentioning any sources, also said that Chinese nuclear-powered submarines were deployed early this month to counter U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carriers which, the U.S. news magazine Time said, began operations in the East and South China Seas. China’s military, at the same time, conducted war exercises simultaneously in the East and South China Seas, Beijing, Nanjing, Chengdu and Fuzhou.
The moves came after Beijing put its first aircraft carrier into service in a show of military strength. China’s leaders, including President Hu Jintao, attended a commissioning ceremony for the 300-meter aircraft carrier.
Beijing plans to deploy two more aircraft carriers by 2020 and build a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier by 2025, amid concerns about China’s increasingly assertive disposition, possibly in line with its status as a global power.
Japan does not sit idle. It plans to launch a 19,500-ton class helicopter carrier by 2015. The ships of this class are bigger than the existing Hyuga class helicopter destroyers. The new vessel will be capable of carrying up to 14 aircrafts which can take off like a helicopter and fly like an airplane.
China has also increased surveillance near Ieodo, which lies within the overlapping exclusive economic zones (EEZs) of South Korea and China. No progress has been made since Seoul and Beijing began negotiations to delineate their EEZs in waters near Ieodo in 1996.
Korea should take more steps to reinforce its control over the islet, such as making an elevated unmanned maritime research station, which the country built on the submerged outcropping in 2003, a manned one.
The military buildup by China and Japan poses a threat to Korea. I feel that Korea should also possess an aircraft carrier to secure regional stability and promote its interests in remote areas, though such a project is very expensive to undertake.
Experts agree that construction of a 40,000-ton class Korean aircraft carrier will cost 3 trillion won, which accounts for less than 0.01 percent of the government’s budget plan for next year, scaled at 342.5 trillion won (about $306 billion). The country, one of the largest shipbuilders in the world, has the technology to build such a vessel. And it is timely for Korea to construct a naval base on the southern island province of Jeju. After all, isn’t that a good idea?