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U.S. Advises Commercial Jets to Honor China’s Rules Airlines Urged By U.S. to Give Notice to China
(37 minutes later)
WASHINGTON — After an internal debate, the Obama administration has decided to tell American commercial airlines to comply with China's demands to be notified of any flights through a broad swath of international airspace that it has claimed as an air defense zone, officials said Friday. WASHINGTON — On the same day that China scrambled fighter jets to enforce its newly declared air defense zone, the Obama administration decided to advise American commercial airlines to comply with China’s demands to be notified in advance of flights through the area.
Even as the United States continued to send military planes into the zone in defiance of China's declaration, officials said they expected civilian planes to go along with Beijing's new demands out of an abundance of caution. Officials said they were worried about an accident or unintended confrontation that could endanger civilian passengers. While the United States continued to defy China by sending military planes into the zone unannounced, administration officials said they expected civilian planes to adhere to Beijing’s new rules out of fear of an unintended confrontation.
The administration’s decision came hours after China said it had scrambled fighter jets for the first time since declaring the zone last week, a move that was seen by Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and the United States as provocative. Although the officials made clear that the administration rejects China’s control of the airspace over a large area of the East China Sea, the guidance to the civilian airlines could be interpreted in the region as a concession in the battle of wills with China.
The caution reflected in the administration’s decision contrasted with that by Japan's government, which told its civilian airlines not to abide by the Chinese rules after they initially began to voluntarily comply. “The U.S. government generally expects that U.S. carriers operating internationally will operate consistent with” notice requirements “issued by foreign countries,” the State Department said in a statement, adding that that “does not indicate U.S. government acceptance of China’s requirements.”
China’s assertion of jurisdiction over the airspace, designed to bolster its claim to islands administered by Japan, is not recognized by any of the major powers in the region but the American decision may irritate Tokyo. The decision contrasted with that of Japan’s government earlier this week, when it asked its airlines, which were voluntarily following China’s rules, to stop for fear that doing so would add legitimacy to Chinese claims to control the airspace above islands claimed by both countries. China’s newly declared air defense zone, experts say, is designed mainly to whittle away at Japan’s hold on the islands, which it has long administered.
Earlier Friday, in announcing it had scrambled jets, China said it had identified two American surveillance planes and 10 Japanese aircraft in its newly declared air defense zone On Saturday, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official, “We will not comment what other countries are doing with regard to filing flight plans.” It was not immediately clear if the Obama administration had notified Japan, a close ally, of its decision.
Although there was no indication that China’s air force showed any hostile intent, the move, reported by official news agencies, ratcheted up tensions in a long-simmering dispute between Japan and China that could lead to a military miscalculation some fear could spiral out of control. The American announcement came just hours after Chinese state news media said China sent jets that identified two American surveillance planes and 10 Japanese aircraft in the air defense zone the country declared last weekend. Although there was no indication that China’s air force showed any hostile intent, the move raised tensions.
The United States, which is bound by treaty to defend Japan if it is attacked, directly entered the fray this week by sending unarmed B-52s into the contested airspace, defying Chinese demands that all aircraft notify the Chinese that they were coming in advance or face possible military action. Earlier in the week, the United States sent unarmed B-52s into the area, and they proceeded unimpeded.
The dispute between China and Japan centers on uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. The new air defense zone includes airspace above the islands. Analysts believe that China’s intent in declaring control was not to force a conflict, but to try to build a case that it has as much claim to the islands as Japan, which has long administered them. The administration’s decision underscored the sensitive position President Obama finds himself in, drawn into a geopolitical dispute that will test how far he is willing to go to contain China’s rising regional ambitions.
But China may have miscalculated in making the move, experts say, perhaps not expecting such a strong pushback from the United States and Japan. China’s move thrust the United States into the middle of the already prickly territorial clash between Beijing and Tokyo, a position the administration had avoided for months even while reiterating that it was treaty-bound to defend Japan if it were ever attacked. After the declaration last weekend, American officials feared that if left unchallenged, the Chinese action would lead to ever greater claims elsewhere in the Pacific region.
In Washington, administration officials confirmed that American military planes had continued what they called routine training and surveillance flights in the disputed airspace. The officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, declined to provide specifics of the American flights on Friday, suggesting that they were classified reconnaissance missions. But with planes flying so fast and in such proximity, the administration’s worries grew that an accident or an unintended confrontation could spiral out of control. A midair collision between a Chinese fighter jet and an American spy plane off the coast of China in April 2001 killed the fighter pilot and forced the spy plane to make an emergency landing on Hainan island, setting off a heated diplomatic episode until Beijing released the American crew and sent the plane back, broken into parts.
The Chinese account in Xinhua, the state-run news agency, said the 10 Japanese aircraft included the F-15 jet fighter and surveillance aircraft, though it did not say how many planes of each type were used. “Crowded air lanes increase the chances for an unwanted incident,” said Jon M. Huntsman Jr., Mr. Obama’s first ambassador to China. “The challenge here, as with April 2001, is when you have an unexpected crisis, things escalate very, very quickly without any plans for de-escalation. That’s one of the big challenges we have in the U.S.-China relationship.”
An American surveillance plane was involved in a major diplomatic incident between China and the United States in 2001 when it collided with a Chinese jet fighter over the South China Sea. The Chinese pilot was killed, and the American plane made an emergency landing on Hainan Island in southern China, an accident that badly damaged relations. One of the biggest challenges for Mr. Obama is navigating the complicated personalities of leaders in Tokyo and Beijing. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan, a strong nationalist, has vowed to stand firm against any Chinese encroachments, while President Xi Jinping of China has recently taken over as leader and has promised to advance a strong foreign policy meant to win his country more recognition as an international power.
Although American officials acknowledged the risks of such accidents, they also said the Chinese air force in recent years has routinely sent its jets aloft to identify and occasionally shadow American military missions in Asian airspace. The two countries have been at odds for years over the uninhabited islands known as Diaoyu by the Chinese and Senkaku by the Japanese. Tokyo administers the islands, but China also claims them, and its newly declared air zone includes the space above them. The United States does not take a position on the dispute, but it has said that an attack over the islands would be covered by its mutual defense treaty with Japan.
On Friday, asked for clarification on China’s intentions regarding the new air zone, the spokesman at the Foreign Ministry, Qin Gang, said, “The Air Defense Identification Zone does not equal territorial airspace, and is not an expansion of a country’s territorial airspace.” Although administration officials believe Chinese actions are mainly meant to give it an advantage in its struggle with Japan over the islands, experts on Asia say that they also fit with China’s larger goal of establishing itself as the dominant power in the region, displacing the United States.
The spokesman also said, “Aircraft of all countries, including commercial aircraft, carrying out normal flight according to international law will not be affected.” Administration officials said they decided to proceed with routine training and surveillance flights so as not to legitimize China’s assertion and not to encourage it to establish a similar air zone over the South China Sea, where it has similar territorial disputes with Vietnam, Brunei, Taiwan and the Philippines. China had said it expected to set up other air defense zones, and experts said they expected one to cover the South China Sea.
Many countries, including the United States and Japan, have air defense zones, but the coordinates of the Chinese zone overlap with parts of the Japanese zone, setting up what defense experts have called a dangerous situation in the airspace above the disputed islands. “We don’t want this to be the first in what would be a series of assertive moves,” said an administration official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss a sensitive diplomatic matter. “The whole area’s fraught. This isn’t the only one.”
Mr. Qin, the Foreign Ministry spokesman, brushed aside questions about Japanese criticism of China’s air defense identification zone, or A.D.I.Z. Mr. Obama is sending Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to the region next week, when he will meet with both Mr. Xi and Mr. Abe as well as South Korea’s leader. Although the trip was previously scheduled, it will put Mr. Biden in the center of the dispute at a fraught moment and aides said he will deliver a message of caution to both sides to avoid escalation.
“Would the Japanese side tell other countries, does it have an A.D.I.Z.?” Mr. Qin said. “Has it negotiated with other countries while it established and enlarged its A.D.I.Z.? How large is its A.D.I.Z.?” Many countries, including the United States and Japan, have air defense zones, but the coordinates of the Chinese zone overlap with those of Japan, South Korea and Taiwan.
An American expert on such zones said Japanese aircraft would not be deterred from flying in the airspace above the disputed islands, known as the Diaoyu in China and the Senkaku in Japan. Peter Dutton, director of the China Maritime Studies Institute at the United States Naval War College in Newport, R.I., said the new air zone also gives China a legal structure to intercept American surveillance flights in international airspace, which have long irritated Beijing.
The expert, Peter Dutton, the director of the China Maritime Studies Institute at the Naval War College in Newport, R.I., said that because Japan regards the airspace above the islands as its own, the country would continue air patrols. “It is clear that the Chinese do not seek regional stability on any level,” said Mr. Dutton. “They intend to be disruptive in order to remake the Asian regional system in accordance with their preferences.”
“Japan must continue to enforce its sovereignty or they could lose it to Chinese pressure,” Mr. Dutton said. The Chinese sent jets on patrol into the contested airspace on Thursday, but on Friday state media indicated the jets were scrambled specifically to respond to foreign jets in the area.

Peter Baker reported from Washington and Jane Perlez from Beijing. Thom Shanker contributed reporting from Washington.

Administration officials declined to provide specifics of the American flights made Friday, which could suggest that they were classified reconnaissance missions unlike the B-52 training runs in the zone earlier in the week. The Chinese account, in Xinhua, said the 10 Japanese aircraft included F-15 jet fighter and surveillance aircraft, but the Chinese did not say how many planes of each type were used.
In Tokyo on Friday, the Japanese defense minister, Itsunori Onodero, rejected the idea of holding talks with Beijing over the air zone. “Under the Chinese air defense identification zone, the Senkaku islands become Chinese territory,” he said, “so Japan cannot accept it.”

Peter Baker reported from Washington, and Jane Perlez from Beijing. Martin Fackler contributed reporting from Japan, and Thom Shanker from Washington.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: November 29, 2013Correction: November 29, 2013

Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article misstated which countries were pushing back against China’s newly declared air defense zone. It was the United States and Japan, not the United States and China.

Because of an editing error, an earlier version of this article misstated which countries were pushing back against China’s newly declared air defense zone. It was the United States and Japan, not the United States and China.