US defies China by flying bombers into disputed airspace

The US has defied Chinese claims over an area of international airspace by flying two unarmed long-range B52 bombers over a chain of islands in the East China Sea between China and Japan.

Ignoring new demands from China on aircraft flying into an area it calls an “air defence identification zone,” the US bombers flew on a training mission over the islands in the East China Sea, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, which are the subject of rising tensions between the countries.

Both China and Japan claim ownership over the islands and the airspace above the territory in a dispute which the Obama administration fears could draw the US into a dispute between the countries.

'Defensive measures'
The Chinese government demanded on Saturday that all aircraft declare a flight plan and agree to provide other information before flying into the area or else face "emergency defensive measures."

The US aircraft flew from a military base on the island of Guam on Saturday, the Pentagon revealed. US colonel Steve Warren said aircraft had "conducted operations in the area of the Senkakus".

The US bombers were flying in the disputed area for about an hour without informing the Chinese of their flight plan as part of a “long-planned training exercise,” said Warren. The flights took place without incident. “We have continued to follow our normal procedures, which include not filing flight plans, not radioing ahead and not registering our frequencies,” Warren said.

The US has more than 70,000 troops in Japan and South Korea and is obliged to defend Japan, under the terms of a treaty, if the country comes under attack.

Chinese claims of ownership over the island chain were rejected by the US. Defence secretary Chuck Hagel has called China's move a "destabilising attempt to alter the status quo in the region".

Announcing the air defence zone on Saturday, China ordered all foreign aircraft to maintain two-radio communications and “respond in a timely and accurate manner” to requests for identification.

“The objective is to defend national sovereignty and territorial and air security, as well as to maintain orderly aviation,” a spokesman for China’s ministry of national defence colonel Yang Yujun said.

Several Japanese airlines responded to China’s demands by filing flight plans but later agreed to stop doing so following a request from Japan’s transportation ministry.