Their military aircraft have since flown through the disputed airspace without informing China. 23 and demanded that planes flying in the area first notify Chinese authorities, both Japan and South Korea immediately rejected it. When China declared its new air defense zone on Nov. “The United States has been and will remain in close consultation with our allies and partners in the region to ensure their actions contribute to greater stability, predictability, and consistency with international practices,” said Jen Psaki, a State Department spokeswoman. The State Department offered support for South Korea’s approach, saying that keeping open the lines of communication with China and Japan “avoids confusion for, or threats to, civilian airlines.” “Our top priority is to prevent accidental military clashes in the area,” General Chang said at a news briefing. If it fails to do so, the country operating the zone may order it to leave, or dispatch military jets to confront the intruding aircraft. A military plane entering another country’s air defense identification zone must notify that country in advance. It will have no impact on civilian flights, said Kim Min-seok, a spokesman for the South Korean Defense Ministry.īut the announcement of the expanded zone raises the risk of an accidental military clash in the region. The expanded air defense zone follows the boundaries of South Korea’s existing “flight information region,” an area assigned to South Korea for civilian air traffic control under an agreement with the International Civil Aviation Organization. There was no immediate response from Beijing or Tokyo. It said its new zone would take effect in a week. With its announcement on Sunday, South Korea expanded its air defense zone more than 300 kilometers, or 186 miles, to the south. South Korea: President Yoon Suk Yeol has aligned his country more closely with the United States, but there are limits to how far he can go without angering China or provoking North Korea.Harris’s Asia Trip: What on the surface appeared to be a routine, symbolic visit for Vice President Kamala Harris became a tricky dance of diplomacy in an increasingly unnerved region.A Broad Partnership : The United States and 14 Pacific Island nations signed an agreement at a summit in Washington, putting climate change, economic growth and stronger security ties at the center of an American push to counter Chinese influence.But the international landscape has changed considerably since then. North Korea : Pyongyang fired an intermediate range ballistic missile over Japan for the first time since 2017, when Kim Jong-un seemed intent on escalating conflict with Washington.More on the Relations Between Asia and the U.S. The expanded Chinese air control zone also covers a set of East China Sea islands, called Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese, which are at the heart of a territorial feud between Japan and China. The South Korean move came two weeks after China stoked regional tensions by unilaterally expanding its own air patrol zone to partly overlap with South Korea’s and include airspace over the reef. The seabed around the reef is believed to be rich in natural gas and minerals deposits. The reef is controlled by South Korea, which maintains a maritime research station there, but China also claims it. With South Korea’s newly expanded zone, the air defense zones of all three countries now overlap over a submerged reef called Ieodo in South Korea and Suyan Rock in China. South Korea’s expanded “air defense identification zone” was the latest sign of a broadening discord among the Northeast Asian neighbors, who are already locked in territorial and historical disputes. SEOUL, South Korea - Defying both China and Japan, South Korea announced on Sunday that it was expanding its air patrol zone for the first time in 62 years to include airspace over the East China Sea that is also claimed by Beijing and Tokyo.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |