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Japanese leader to
discuss air zone with US¡¦ Joe Biden
AFP and Reuters, TOKYO and NEW YORK
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said yesterday he would discuss China¡¦s
expansion of its air defense zone with US Vice President Joe Biden in Tokyo to
coordinate their stance after apparently contradictory responses.
China raised regional tensions with its declaration last weekend of the zone,
which covers islands in the East China Sea at the center of a dispute between
Beijing and Tokyo, and demands that aircraft submit flight plans when traversing
the area.
Tokyo has instructed Japanese airlines not to submit flight plans to Beijing,
but Washington said on Friday it generally expected US carriers to ¡§operate
consistent with¡¨ notification policies issued by foreign countries.
¡§We want to hold consultation with US Vice President Biden who will visit Japan
this week and deal with the matter by coordinating closely between Japan and the
US,¡¨ Abe said.
Biden is due to arrive in Tokyo late today for a 34-hour visit as part of his
East Asian tour, which will also take him to China and South Korea.
The US Department of State statement was widely taken in Japan to mean
Washington had effectively advised US airlines to comply with the Chinese
demand.
However, Abe and Japanese Minister of Defense Itsunori Onodera said Washington
had not explicitly requested US carriers to submit flight plans to Beijing.
¡§We have confirmed it through diplomatic channels,¡¨ Abe told reporters,
according to the Jiji Press news agency.
Onodera, speaking on public broadcaster NHK, said: ¡§The US government is taking
the same stance with Japan¡¨ over the air defense zone.
¡§The US side has rather been quicker than Japan in responding to this issue. It
has issued a strong message,¡¨ Onodera said.
China¡¦s announcement on Nov. 23 that it was extending an air defense
identification zone (ADIZ) over the Diaoyutai Islands (³¨³½¥x¸s®q) ¡X known by Japan
as the Senkaku Islands ¡X was disregarded by several nations, and US B-52 bombers
entered the area.
The Pentagon has indicated that US military forces would continue normal
operations, despite China scrambling fighter jets to monitor US and Japanese
aircraft in the zone.
Jiji said Abe and Onodera were possibly trying to deny any damaging difference
between the allies over the air zone issue.
US airlines United, American and Delta have notified Chinese authorities of
flight plans when traveling through an air defense zone Beijing has declared
over the East China Sea, following US government advice.
On Friday, the US said it expected US carriers to operate in line with so-called
notices to airmen issued by foreign countries, although it added that the
decision did ¡§not indicate US government acceptance of China¡¦s requirements.¡¨
A spokesman for Delta Airlines said it had been complying with the Chinese
requests for flight plans for the past week. American and United said separately
that they were complying, but did not say for how long they had been doing so.
Airline industry officials said the US government generally expected US carriers
operating internationally to comply with notices issued by foreign countries.
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