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Senkaku Islands
Vice-President Joe Biden said at the beginning of a tour of East Asia that the US remains “deeply concerned” about China’s new air defense identification zone (ADIZ).
In written responses to Japan’s Asahi newspaper, Joe Biden said China and Japan had to establish measures to lower tensions.
Joe Biden arrived in Tokyo late on Monday and will then head to Beijing and Seoul during his six-day visit.
The air zone row is likely to dominate the week of talks.
Joe Biden’s most important task this week will be persuading Beijing and Tokyo to stop baiting each other, and to start talking about how to avoid an unintended clash.
Both the US and Japan have voiced strong criticism of China’s establishment of an ADIZ that includes islands claimed and controlled by Japan. It also includes a submerged rock claimed by South Korea.
China says aircraft operating within its ADIZ must follow certain rules such as filing flight plans, or face “defensive emergency measures”.
US, Japanese and South Korean military aircraft have all defied these rules and Japanese commercial carriers have agreed to a government request not to comply.
On Friday, China scrambled fighter jets to monitor US and Japanese planes flying in the area.
Joe Biden told the newspaper that the establishment of the ADIZ underscored “the need for agreement between China and Japan to establish crisis management and confidence building measures to lower tensions”.
Joe Biden arrived in Tokyo late on Monday and will then head to Beijing and Seoul during his six-day visit
As well as “the strength of our alliance commitments” with Japan, he planned to “emphasize the importance of avoiding actions that could undermine peace, security and prosperity in the region”, he said.
Joe Biden was met at the airport late on Monday by the new US envoy to Japan, Caroline Kennedy. Later on Tuesday, he meets Japanese PM Shinzo Abe.
Shinzo Abe said on Sunday that he expected to discuss the ADIZ issue with Joe Biden.
Tokyo has told its national carriers JAL and ANA not to file flight plans with the Chinese side when transiting the zone, but on Friday the US said it expected its carriers to “operate consistent with Notams (Notices to Airmen) issued by foreign countries”.
This did not indicate “US government acceptance of China’s requirements for operating in the newly-declared ADIZ”, the state department said.
Shinzo Abe said on Sunday he expected to have “in-depth” talks with Joe Biden about the ADIZ row.
Japan, he said, would “resolutely but calmly deal with Beijing’s attempt to change the status quo” in the region.
Tensions between Japan and China have been high for months because of a territorial row over islands in the East China Sea.
Japan controls the islands, which are called Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. They are also claimed by Taiwan and lie in a strategically important area south of Japan and north of Taiwan.
The US has described China’s move as destabilizing.
After Tokyo, VP Joe Biden heads to Beijing for talks with President Xi Jinping and then travels on to South Korea.
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Japanese and South Korean planes have flown unannounced through China’s newly-declared air defense zone, officials from both nations say.
Japan’s aircraft had conducted routine “surveillance activity” over the East China Sea zone, the top government spokesman said.
South Korea had also conducted a flight, its defense ministry said.
China says planes transiting the zone, which covers areas claimed by Tokyo, Seoul and Taipei, must file plans.
The zone includes islands known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China which are claimed by Japan, China and Taiwan.
Japan controls the islands, which have been the focus of a bitter and long-running dispute between Japan and China.
The zone also covers a submerged rock that South Korea says forms part of its territory.
China, which established the air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Saturday, says aircraft must report a flight plan, communicate and identify themselves. Those who do not could face “defensive emergency measures”.
Japanese and South Korean planes have flown unannounced through China’s newly-declared air defense zone
China’s move has been condemned by the US and Japan.
The US, which called the move a “destabilizing attempt to alter the status quo in the region”, flew two unarmed B-52 bombers through the zone unannounced on Tuesday.
Japanese officials did not specify when the flights happened, but confirmed the surveillance activity.
“Even since China has created this airspace defense zone, we have continued our surveillance activities as before in the East China Sea, including in the zone,” said Japan’s top government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga.
“We are not going to change this [activity] out of consideration to China,” he added.
For their part, South Korea’s military said one of their planes entered the zone on Tuesday.
South Korea’s Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se said on Wednesday that the air zone issue had made “already tricky regional situations even more difficult to deal with”.
“We’ve witnessed competition and conflicts among players of the region getting fiercer,” he told Yonhap news agency.
On Thursday, South Korea and China held talks on the zone, but failed to reach any agreement.
China defended its establishment of an air zone on Thursday, with a Defense Ministry spokesman telling state media it was “completely justified and legitimate”.
US Vice-President Joe Biden is expected to express America’s concerns to China when he makes a scheduled visit next week.
Joe Biden would “convey our concerns directly and… seek clarity regarding the Chinese intentions in making this move at this time”, a senior US official administration said.
The vice-president will also make stops in Japan and South Korea during his trip to Asia.
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Japan’s PM Shinzo Abe has described China’s move to create a new “air defense identification zone” over disputed waters as “dangerous”.
China’s action had “no validity whatsoever on Japan”, Shinzo Abe added.
China has voiced anger at Japanese and US objections to the new air zone, and lodged complaints with their embassies.
The zone covers disputed islands that are claimed and controlled by Japan. China says aircraft entering the zone must obey its rules.
Shinzo Abe told parliament on Monday that the zone “can invite an unexpected occurrence and it is a very dangerous thing as well”.
“We demand China revoke any measures that could infringe upon the freedom of flight in international airspace,” he added.
US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has called the move a “destabilizing attempt to alter the status quo in the region”.
“This unilateral action increases the risk of misunderstanding and miscalculations,” Chuck Hagel said in a statement.
“This announcement by the People’s Republic of China will not in any way change how the United States conducts military operations in the region,” he added.
Japan described China’s move as an “escalation” on Saturday, after China announced the new zone.
On Sunday, Yang Yujun, a spokesman for China’s Ministry of National Defense, said Japan’s reaction was “absolutely groundless and unacceptable”.
The disputed islands in the East China Sea have been a source of tension between China and Japan for decades
“We strongly require the Japanese side to stop all moves that undermine China’s territorial sovereignty as well as irresponsible remarks that misguide international opinions and create regional tensions,” Yang Yujun said.
He also demanded that the US “earnestly respect China’s national security [and] stop making irresponsible remarks for China’s setup of the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone”.
Meanwhile, South Korea said it found it “regretful” that China’s new zone partly overlapped with its own military air zone, and covered Ieodo, a submerged rock claimed by Seoul.
“I’d like to say once again that we have unchanging territorial control over Ieodo,” Kim Min-seok, a South Korean defense ministry spokesman, said on Monday.
Taiwan also claims the Japan-controlled disputed islands known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China. Taiwan said that it would “defend its sovereignty over the archipelago.”
China said the air defense zone came into effect from 10:00 local time on Saturday.
Aircraft in the zone must report a flight plan, “maintain two-way radio communications” and “respond in a timely and accurate manner” to identification inquiries, China’s Defense Ministry said.
Aircraft that did not follow such rules would be subject to “defensive emergency measures”, the ministry added.
The disputed islands in the East China Sea have been a source of tension between China and Japan for decades.
In 2012, the Japanese government bought three of the islands from their private Japanese owner, sparking mass protests in Chinese cities.
Since then, Chinese ships have repeatedly sailed in and out of what Japan says are its territorial waters.
China said that any attempt by Japan to shoot down Chinese aircraft would constitute “an act of war”.
China is also engaged in territorial disputes with several South East Asian countries, including Vietnam and the Philippines. The disputes centre around ocean areas and two island chains in the South China Sea.
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China has created an “air-defense identification zone” over an area of the East China Sea, covering islands that are also claimed by Japan.
China’s Defense Ministry said aircraft entering the zone must obey its rules or face “emergency defensive measures”.
The zone came into effect from 10:00 local time on Saturday.
The islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, are a source of rising tension between the countries.
In its statement, the Defense Ministry said aircraft must report a flight plan, “maintain two-way radio communications”, and “respond in a timely and accurate manner” to identification inquiries.
“China’s armed forces will adopt defensive emergency measures to respond to aircraft that do not co-operate in the identification or refuse to follow the instructions,” said the statement.
China has created an “air-defense identification zone” over an area of the East China Sea, covering islands that are also claimed by Japan
A map posted on Twitter by state news agency Xinhua showed the zone covering a wide area of the East China Sea, including regions very close to South Korea and Japan.
Responding to questions about the zone on an official state website, a defense ministry spokesman, Yang Yujun, said China set up the area “with the aim of safeguarding state sovereignty, territorial land and air security, and maintaining flight order”.
“It is not directed against any specific country or target,” he said, adding that China “has always respected the freedom of over-flight in accordance with international law”.
“Normal flights by international air liners in the East China Sea Air Defence Identification Zone will not be affected in any way.”
There has been no response so far from Japan.
The islands have been a source of tension between China and Japan for decades.
In 2012, the Japanese government bought three of the islands from their Japanese owner, sparking mass protests in Chinese cities.
Since then, Chinese ships have repeatedly sailed in and out of what Japan says are its territorial waters.
In September this year, Japan said it would shoot down unmanned aircraft in Japanese airspace after an unmanned Chinese drone flew close to the disputed islands.
China said that any attempt by Japan to shoot down Chinese aircraft would constitute “an act of war”.
Last month Japan’s defense minister, Itsunori Onodera, said China’s behavior over the disputed East China Sea islands was jeopardizing peace.
