Two US military B-52 bombers flew over
territorially-disputed islands in the East China Sea without informing
China, while two of Japan’s largest airlines also refused to comply with
the rules of Beijing’s newly set up air defense zone.
On Tuesday it was revealed that two US military planes flew over
the disputed islands without informing the Chinese authorities.
“We have conducted operations in the area of the Senkakus
[Japan’s name for the disputed islands]. We have continued to
follow our normal procedures, which include not filing flight
plans, not radioing ahead and not registering our
frequencies,” Colonel Steve Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, is
cited as saying by Reuters.
The Chinese Defense Ministry said its military monitored the two
American bombers as they passed over the disputed territory, but
refrained from elaborating on the situation, which Beijing
apparently perceives as violations of its airspace.
Unarmed B-52 bombers took off from Guam and flew over the
Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands on Monday, according to statements given
to the Wall Street Journal by unnamed officials.
A
group of disputed islands, Uotsuri island (top), Minamikojima (bottom)
and Kitakojima, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China is seen in
the East China Sea (Reuters / Kyodo)
Defiant airlines
The US demarche was followed on Tuesday by Japan, when its two
largest airlines, ANA Holdings and Japan Airlines, declared that
they’ll stop submitting flight plans to Chinese aviation
authorities.
Both carriers have been informing China of flights through the
recently established zone in the East China Sea. However, they
will stop doing so as of Wednesday, a spokesmen for the airlines
said.
The announcement came after Japan’s Transport Minister Akihiro
Ota called the declaration of China’s defense zone “not valid at
all” and urged the country’s airlines not to comply with
Beijing’s rules.
Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said that the government
will continue talking to the country’s airlines as “it’s
important for the public and private sectors to cooperate in
showing China our firm resolve,” reports the Kyodo news
agency.
Kishida has had a phone conversation with US Secretary of State
John Kerry, during which the two sides shared their "strong
concern" over Beijing’s move.
Presumed flight path of US B-52s, Nov. 26, 2013
'Inflammatory policy'
Previously, Kerry warned that China's attempt to impose control
over the area’s airspace “constitutes an attempt to change the
status quo in the East China Sea. Escalatory action will only
increase tensions in the region and create risks of an
incident.”
The US, Japan’s major ally, said that the territorial dispute in
the East China Sea should be solved by diplomatic means.
“The policy announced by the Chinese over the weekend is
unnecessarily inflammatory,” Josh Earnest, a White House
spokesman, stressed on Tuesday. “These are the kinds of
differences that shouldn’t be addressed with threats or
inflammatory language, but rather can and should be resolved
diplomatically.”
Chinese Defense Ministry's Bayi Building in Beijing (Reuters / Jason Lee)
On Saturday, the Chinese Defense Ministry said that any planes in
the vicinity of the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands - disputed between
Beijing and Tokyo - need to submit their flight plans to China’s
Foreign Ministry or civil aviation administration, and they must
maintain radio contact with Chinese authorities.
China has threatened to implement “emergency defensive
measures” against planes that fail to comply with the rules.
The US and Japan are considering the deployment of drone aircraft
in the area, as a response to the Chinese move, the Nikkei
newspaper reported, although they provided no source for the
information.
More than 20 countries, including Japan and the US enforce
similar airspace identification zones, like the Chinese, in the
interest of national security. However, those zones aren’t
situated in disputed areas.
Tensions between Japan and China over the eight uninhabited
islands, which are situated in waters rich with oil, natural gas
and fish, ratcheted up after the Japanese government purchased
three of the islands in the group from a private Japanese owner.
Chinese patrol ships and airplanes have since been repeatedly
entering and patrolling the areas around the islands, as a
protest against the Japanese move.
In a move designed to challenge China’s “air defense
zone,” the US flew two B-52 Bombers over disputed islands in the East
China Sea just days after Beijing implicitly threatened to shoot down
aircraft entering the area.
Image: B-52 Bomber (Wikimedia Commons).
Over the weekend, China released a map which included
the clustered Senkaku islands and warned that all aircraft entering the
zone must immediately identify themselves to Chinese authorities and
face “emergency military measures.”
However, the US flew two B-52 bombers through the zone
during a training mission today without notifying Beijing. There was no
response from China. In conducting the mission, the Pentagon followed
through on its promise that US pilots would not switch on their
transponders and would defend themselves if attacked.
“We have continued to follow our normal procedures,
which include not filing flight plans, not radioing ahead and not
registering our frequencies,” said US Colonel Steve Warren.
Although the B-52 flyover was part of a pre-planned exercise, it has been characterized
as a clear act of defiance against China’s territorial claims.
Japan responded to the Chinese threat by accusing
Beijing of engaging in “profoundly dangerous acts that unilaterally
change the status quo,” adding that the defense zone was “not valid at
all.”
According to the Telegraph’s Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
, the escalating crisis represents a “watershed moment for the world” and means “Asia is on the cusp of a full-blown arms race.”
“Even if the immediate crisis can be defused, we are
clearly sliding into a new Cold War,” writes Evans-Pritchard, adding,
“One misjudgment by either side in the East China Sea could change our
world entirely. If you are not concerned, perhaps you should be.”
Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Infowars.com
and Prison Planet.com
. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a host for Infowars Nightly News.
This article was posted: Tuesday, November 26, 2013 at 3:18 pm
