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While U.S.-based carriers should meet China’s requirements for flying
through the area, the recommendation doesn’t mean the Obama
administration accepts China’s assertion of the zone, the department
said Nov. 29.
U.S. airlines were urged by the State Department to notify Chinese authorities before flying through China's new air-defense zone, even as the American military conducts daily flights in the area without such notification.
“Freedom of overflight and other internationally lawful uses of sea and airspace are essential to prosperity, stability, and security,” the agency said, repeating U.S. concern over China’s assertion of the air-defense identification zone.
The advisory to carriers came as Japan raised the dispute over the zone at a meeting of the Internation Civil Aviaition Organization in Montreal. A Japanese government representative told the UN agency that the zone could threaten the order and safety of international aviation and requested a review, according to the country’s foreign ministry.
The State Department’s notice emerged hours after the U.S. military disclosed that it has been flying daily through the disputed area without providing notice to Beijing authorities. That disclosure Nov. 29 by a U.S. defense official indicates that U.S. flight activity in the area, where China has sought to exert control, is more extensive than was previously known.
“It’s very important the U.S. signal to the Chinese that we’re not going to be bullied and that we’re going to adhere to our commitments,” which include a defense treaty with Japan, said Nicholas Burns, a former U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs from 2005 to 2008.
U.S. airlines were urged by the State Department to notify Chinese authorities before flying through China's new air-defense zone, even as the American military conducts daily flights in the area without such notification.
“Freedom of overflight and other internationally lawful uses of sea and airspace are essential to prosperity, stability, and security,” the agency said, repeating U.S. concern over China’s assertion of the air-defense identification zone.
The advisory to carriers came as Japan raised the dispute over the zone at a meeting of the Internation Civil Aviaition Organization in Montreal. A Japanese government representative told the UN agency that the zone could threaten the order and safety of international aviation and requested a review, according to the country’s foreign ministry.
The State Department’s notice emerged hours after the U.S. military disclosed that it has been flying daily through the disputed area without providing notice to Beijing authorities. That disclosure Nov. 29 by a U.S. defense official indicates that U.S. flight activity in the area, where China has sought to exert control, is more extensive than was previously known.
“It’s very important the U.S. signal to the Chinese that we’re not going to be bullied and that we’re going to adhere to our commitments,” which include a defense treaty with Japan, said Nicholas Burns, a former U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs from 2005 to 2008.
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