China sends patrols into newly declared maritime air defence zone

PanARMENIAN.Net - China has sent fighter jets and an early warning aircraft into its newly declared maritime air defence zone, Belfast Telegraph reported.

The move came days after the U.S., South Korea and Japan all sent flights through the airspace in defiance of rules Beijing says it has imposed in the East China Sea.

China's air force yesterday, November 28 sent the warplanes on normal air patrols in the zone, the Xinhua agency reported, citing air force spokesman Shen Jinke.

The report did not specify exactly when the flights were sent or whether they had encountered foreign aircraft.

The U.S., Japan and South Korea have said they have sent flights through the zone without encountering any Chinese response since Beijing announced the creation of the zone last week.

While China's surprise announcement last week to create the zone initially raised tensions in the region, analysts say Beijing's motive is not to trigger an aerial confrontation but is a long-term strategy to solidify claims to disputed territory by simply marking the area as its own.

China's lack of efforts to stop the foreign flights - including two U.S. B-52s that flew through the zone on Tuesday - has been an embarrassment for Beijing.

Even some Chinese state media outlets suggested yesterday that Beijing may have mishandled the episodes.

"Beijing needs to reform its information release mechanism to win the psychological battles waged by Washington and Tokyo," the Global Times, a nationalist tabloid published by the Communist Party's flagship People's Daily, said.

Without prior notice, Beijing began demanding on Saturday that passing aircraft identify themselves and accept Chinese instructions or face consequences.

But when tested just days later by U.S. B-52 flights - with Washington saying it made no effort to comply with China's rules, and would not do so in the future - Beijing merely noted, belatedly, that it had seen the flights and taken no further action.

South Korea's military said yesterday its planes flew through the zone this week without informing China and with no apparent interference.