I agree with Stealth, and that's why I brought up Taiwan earlier. China doesn't "claim" mainland Japan in any way, but they do claim that Taiwan is theirs, and just a "rogue confused" state that needs to be returned to their fold.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-28/japan-tests-china-s-resolve-with-flights-in-air-zone.htmlJapan and South Korea both flew fighters through the area in the last day, and China did nothing to respond. Their CVN should be on station in a couple of days, so we'll see if they launch any J15/SU33 fighters to intercept aircraft once it gets there.
Notice the UK is involved now too. Bloody hell Zack! HMS Daring is in the area, and is going to be taking the road less traveled to a port visit in Japan, right through the exclusion zone - the timing is pretty cute, obviously it'll be there right around the time the Chinese navy CVN gets to the area. HMS Daring is part of a class that's probably one of if not THE best air defense ship in the world, right up there with the Burke and Tico Aegis equipped ships, only newer and with a faster, albeit slightly shorter range radar and tracking system. I just hope the British government has the $ to have sent them into harms way with a full magazine, unlike that last crisis where the media broke the story that they only had 2 or 3 functioning rounds on board for Seawolf system which normally held 32 on HMS Westminster during the Libyan engagements. Dodgy buggahs!
This is getting interesting. I wonder how many US submarines are already tracking and trailing the Chinese CVN. Again, I'd be interested to see how good the Chinese Frigates and Destroyers are at ASW work. They used to be horrible at it, and couldn't even fly their ASW helo's in bad weather or the dark, but times have changed apparently. I'm not saying I think they're great, just that they aren't completely incapable as before.
