China sends fighter jets into disputed air zone; Japan, South Korea defiant

[unhappycamper]

http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/29/world/asia/china-japan-south-korea-tensions/

China sends fighter jets into disputed air zone; Japan, South Korea defiant
By Tim Hume, Jethro Mullen and Yoko Wakatsuki
updated 3:43 AM EST, Fri November 29, 2013

(CNN) -- China sent fighter jets into its newly claimed air defense zone Thursday, as Japan and South Korea sounded notes of defiance by declaring they would continue to fly through disputed airspace without notifying Beijing.

South Korea announced yesterday it had already sent a military flight into China's newly claimed "air defense identification zone" (ADIZ) on Tuesday without alerting China, while Japan appeared to claim it had also flown into the territory since China's announcement Saturday that it was unilaterally establishing the zone.

The flights have raised the stakes in a rapidly escalating dispute over contested territory in and above the East China Sea. They follow U.S. flights into the territory earlier in the week, when two unarmed B-52 bombers passed uncontested through the zone, in what the Pentagon described as a pre-planned military exercise.

Col. Shen Jinke, spokesman for the People's Liberation Army Air Force, said the Chinese warplanes, including Su-30 and J-11 fighters and an airborne radar early warning system, were flown Thursday into the ADIZ in what he described as a "defensive measure ... in line with international practices."