Obama administration officials said the decision to advise civilian aircraft to notify Chinese authorities when traveling through the air-defense zone was a precautionary measure to avoid miscommunications that could lead to confrontation.
"We ... are advising for safety reasons that they comply with notices to airmen, which FAA always advises," an official said, referring to the Federal Aviation Administration.
But US officials said this has no effect on the US position that the Chinese defense zone covering territory claimed by China, Japan, Taiwan and South Korea is illegitimate.
They insist that US military flights will continue to travel through the zone without notice to China.
The US State Department has slammed China’s move as "an attempt to unilaterally change the status quo in the East China Sea" which will "raise regional tensions and increase the risk of miscalculation, confrontation and accidents."
Secretary of State John Kerry also characterized the defense zone as an "escalatory action (that) will only increase tensions in the region and create risks of an incident."
China flew warplanes into the area on Friday to monitor American and Japanese aircraft flying there. The move came after two US B-52 bombers transited the zone earlier this week without informing the Chinese authorities.
Japan and South Korea also defied the no-fly zone this week without informing Beijing.
US Vice President Joe Biden is due to visit China, Japan and South Korea next week, and will try to ease tensions over the issue.
HJ/HJ
US advises carriers to comply with China air zone
Kyodo News via AP
U.S. Navy FA-18 Hornets cram the flight deck of the USS George Washington during a joint military exercise with Japan in the Pacific Ocean near Japan's southernmost island of Okinawa Thursday, Nov. 28, 2013.
The United States advised U.S. carriers to comply with China's demand that it be told of any flights passing through its new maritime air defense zone over the East China Sea, an area where Beijing said it launched two fighter planes to investigate a dozen American and Japanese reconnaissance and military flights.
It was the first time since proclaiming the zone on Nov. 23 that China said it sent planes there on the same day as foreign military flights, although it said it merely identified the foreign planes and took no further action.
China announced last week that all aircraft entering the zone — a maritime area between China, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan — must notify Chinese authorities beforehand and that it would take unspecified defensive measures against those that don't comply. Neighboring countries and the U.S. have said they will not honor the new zone — believed aimed at claiming disputed territory — and have said it unnecessarily raises tensions.
State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement Friday that the U.S. remained deeply concerned about China's declared air identification zone. But she said that it is advising U.S. air carriers abroad to comply with notification requirements issued by China.
