China deploys fighter jets to patrol new air defence zone>> China on Thursday sent several fighter jets and an early warning aircraft to its newly declared air defence zone in the East China Sea as a “defensive measure” after Japan and South Korea said their military planes flew through the area in defiance of Beijing’s unilateral move. Colonel Shen Jinke said several fighter jets and an early warning aircraft had been deployed to carry out routine patrols as “a defensive measure and in line with international common practices,” state-run Xinhua news agency reported. Shen said the country’s air force would remain on high alert and would take measures to deal with all air threats to protect national security. The Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) zone, announced by China last week, covers territory claimed by China, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea. China has said all planes transiting the zone must file flight plans and identify themselves, or face “defensive emergency measures”. But Japan, South Korea and the US have all since flown military aircraft through the area. Japanese aircraft had conducted routine “surveillance activity” over the ADIZ, a Japanese government spokesman said in Tokyo. South Korea had also conducted a flight, the South Korean defence ministry said in Seoul. A day earlier two giant US Stratofortress bombers flew through the AIDZ that China unilaterally declared. The controversial zone includes disputed islands claimed by China, which calls them as the Diaoyus, but controlled by Japan, which terms them as the Senkakus. Japanese officials did not specify when the flights happened, but confirmed the surveillance activity. “Even since China has created this airspace defence zone, we have continued our surveillance activities as before in the East China Sea, including in the zone,” Japan’s government spokesman, Yoshihide Suga, said. “We are not going to change this (activity) out of consideration to China,” he said. Under fire from the US and other countries over the ADIZ, Chinese Defence Ministry said it will consider to revoke the zone if Japan which has a similar defence zone withdraws it. “Should the decision be retracted, we ask the Japanese side to revoke its Air Defence Identification Zone first, we will then consider their demand 44 years later,” Defence Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told reporters. His comments came in response to Japanese Prime minister Shinzo Abe’s call for China to withdraw the zone. China rules out air defence zone along India border>> China on Thursday ruled out establishing an air defence zone along the India-China border like it recently did over the disputed islands in the East China Sea, saying such zones are created only in coastal areas beyond territorial airspace. “I want to clarify that on the concept of air defence identification zone (ADIZ), it is an area of airspace established by coastal state beyond its territorial airspace. So, the question does not arise,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a media briefing here. He was responding to a question whether China has plans to declare ADIZ along the disputed India-China border, similar to a newly-declared zone over the disputed islands in the East China Sea. Officials say air defence zones are established for coastal areas beyond the 12 nautical mile-territorial waters but not the land borders which have well-defined airspaces. However, China apparently is keeping its options open for declaring such a zone over the disputedSouth China Sea as a defence ministry spokesman here said, replying to a question whether more such zones will be created. “China will establish other air defence identification zones at an appropriate time after completing preparations,” he said. China has already sent its first aircraft carrier Liaoning for military drills. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia and Brunei contest China’s claims of sovereignty over most of the South China Sea. The US, Japan, South Korea and Australia have already criticised the ADIZ over the East China Sea openly. China acknowledged that two US B-52 bombers flew through it on Tuesday for over two hours defying the ADIZ rules. Qin admitted that a South Korean plane, too, has violated the ADIZ rules without informing about the flight. At the same time, he said many civilian airlines of various countries started informing their flight plans to Chinese aviation authorities, he said. “As per ADIZ rule aircraft flying though it should submit plans to China. We hope all sides, including civil aviation side, can cooperate actively to maintain flight security. To my information, so far many airlines of many countries filed relevant application to China’s civil aviation departments,” he said, responding to a question whether Beijing will take action against violating passenger planes.
Posted on: Fri, 29 Nov 2013 06:14:19 +0000
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