Watching the ongoing large-scale naval exercise in the East Sea involving Korean and US Navy and Air Force, one feels like going back to the peak days of the Cold War -- with flashbacks of the intercontinental airlift exercises here in the late 1960s. Editors call it “the advent of neo-Cold War” on the Korean Peninsula as newspapers detail the massive sights of the aircraft carrier USS George Washington heading north and formations of F-22s and F-15s maneuvering off the coasts.

Military tension certainly runs high, as Operation Invincible Spirit is being conducted in reaction to the North Korean torpedo attack on the South Korean warship Cheonan. China lodges protests against the exercise, which it said could affect China’s security and North Korea, brazenly denying responsibility for the attack, is vowing a “holy war” against the allied foes.

Still elements of restraint are detected in the overall picture. The exercise is taking place four months after the sinking of the patrol craft in the West Sea and two months after a multinational inquiry team determined North Korea as the perpetrator of the deadly attack. The two allies delayed the action until after the UN Security Council issued a statement of condemnation. Furthermore, the venue of the exercise was moved from the West Sea near the scene of the March 26 incident to the East Sea, which is far away from China.

North Korea threatens to use its “nuclear deterrent power” to counter the military maneuver. However, there was no immediate visible reaction from the North three days into the four-day drill, which constitutes the first in a series of joint naval exercises to continue in the coming months. Only a North Korean-controlled newspaper in Japan made an unsubstantiated report of an “impending nuclear test” by the North.

China’s official media has anxiously followed developments concerning the Invincible Spirit, making a detailed breakdown of the US and South Korean air, surface and submarine elements participating in the exercise since Beijing authorities warned against foreign military vessels or aircraft maneuvering in China’s offshore waters.

Prior to launching the exercise, South Korean and US defence ministers announced that the military drills were to send a clear message to North Korea to stop its aggressive behaviour exposed in the attack on the Cheonan. These exercises are also aimed to demonstrate how the two allies are committed together to enhancing their combined defensive capabilities, the ministers stated.

Since the Cheonan attack, China has been urging relevant parties to “remain calm and exercise restraint not to exacerbate regional tensions”, but its own overreaction to the exercise has raised the level of tension here. China turned a blind eye to evidence of North Korea’s involvement in the attack and it proved to be more concerned with demonstrating its international political muscle in protecting its troublesome ally than securing genuine peace on the Korean Peninsula.

If the Cold War is returning to this part of the world, the blame goes first to Pyongyang and then to Beijing, which fails to influence the North to ensure that incidents like the Cheonan sinking will not occur in the future.