ays after China asserted greater military
control over a swath of the East China Sea to bolster claims to a
cluster of disputed islands, the U.S. defied the move Tuesday as it flew
two B-52 bombers through the area.
The U.S. said what it described as a training mission was not flown to
respond to China's latest military maneuver, yet the dramatic flights
made clear that the U.S. will not recognize the new territorial claims
that Beijing laid out over the weekend.
The two unarmed U.S. B-52 bombers took off from their home base in Guam
and flew through China's newly designated air defense zone, then
returned to base, U.S. officials said. The bombers were in the zone for
less than an hour, thundering across the Pacific skies during midday
there, the officials said, adding that the aircraft encountered no
problems.
While the U.S. insisted the training mission was long-planned, it came
just days after China issued a map and a new set of rules governing the
zone, which includes a cluster of islands that are controlled by Japan
but claimed by Beijing.
U.S. officials would not publicly acknowledge the flights on Tuesday,
but State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said China's move appeared to
be an attempt to change the status quo in the East China Sea.
"This will raise regional tensions and increase the risk of miscalculation, confrontation and accidents," she told reporters.
China said Saturday that all aircraft entering the new air defense zone
must notify Chinese authorities and are subject to emergency military
measures if they do not identify themselves or obey Beijing's orders.
U.S. officials, however, said they have received no reaction to the
bomber flights from the Chinese.
The bomber mission underscores Washington's immediate rejection of
China's new rules. The U.S., which has hundreds of military aircraft
based in the region, has said it has zero intention of complying. Japan
likewise has called the zone invalid, unenforceable and dangerous, while
Taiwan and South Korea, both close to the U.S., also rejected it.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest would not specifically comment
Tuesday on the military flights. "It continues to be our view that the
policy announced by the Chinese over weekend is unnecessarily
inflammatory and has a destabilizing impact on the region," he told
reporters traveling with Obama in Los Angeles.
The U.S. mission took place between about midnight Monday and 3 a.m.
EST, said the officials, who requested anonymity because they were not
authorized to speak by name about the flights. The flights were first
reported by The Wall Street Journal.
China's move to further assert its territorial claims over the islands
is not expected to immediately spark confrontations with foreign
aircraft. Yet it fits a pattern of putting teeth behind China's claims
and could potentially lead to dangerous encounters depending on how
vigorously China enforces it — and how cautious it is when intercepting
aircraft from Japan, the U.S. and other countries.
While enforcement is expected to start slowly, Beijing has a record of
playing the long game, and analysts say they anticipate a gradual
scaling-up of activity.
The declaration seems to have flopped as a foreign policy gambit.
Analysts say Beijing may have miscalculated the forcefulness and speed
with which its neighbors rejected its demands.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/china-air-defense-zone-points-long-game-21019282
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