The United States and China in Power Transition - Strategic Studies ...

midable one in the coming years. Funds have been
earmarked to build 30 to 50 big size and highly capable
vessels. The first one, “Yuzheng 310” (中国渔政
310), a 2,580-tonnage vessel with a platform for two
Z-9A helicopters and advanced satellite communication
systems, made its maiden voyage on November
16, 2010. Its destination was the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands.
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China’s efforts are changing the situation around
the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands. Clashes between China
and Japan over the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands and reports
about China’s determination to develop its marine
surveillance and law enforcement forces and to
assert and protect China’s maritime interests hit Chinese
media headlines at an alarming rate. Although
most of the reports are only about China’s efforts to
gain control of the Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands, one cannot
but wonder if those efforts do not imply the eventual
eviction of Japan’s forces out of the disputed area.
Since there is no reason to expect that Japan will sit
idle while China is making its advances, a showdown
between China and Japan, with the danger of armed
conflict, is only a matter of time; and this time is coming
fast. And the United States, as promised by Secretary
of State Clinton, will have to rush to the rescue.
What about Tibet and Xinjiang?
These are China’s explosive issues. Unlike the
small and uninhabitable islands in the South and East
China Seas, Tibet and Xinjiang make up about onethird
of China’s landmass and have a population of
about 3 million in Tibet and 22 million in Xinjiang. 161
These two regions are also different from Taiwan in a
significant way in that while the people in Taiwan are
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