Constructing the China threat: the Indian strategic community's discursive interpretation of the East China Sea ADIZ

Abstract

ABSTRACT China's declaration of an Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) over parts of the East China Sea has been discursively constructed as a threat to regional security by Indian commentators. The Indian government meanwhile has not released an official assessment of the Chinese ADIZ. Unofficial commentators extrapolate the threat into a possible Chinese ADIZ over the disputed border with India. This article examines how the Indian security community interprets and discursively constructs the ADIZ threat. Threat, identity and recommendations for response are constructed, drawing from national identity's contested concepts and ideational elements present within the Sino-Indian security equation.