US deeply concerned over China establishing air defence identification

The US remains "deeply concerned" that China announced the establishment of an East China Sea air defense identification zone (ADIZ), White House press secretary Jay Carney said on Monday. "This appears to be a provocative attempt to unilaterally change the status quo in the East China Sea and thus raises regional tensions and increases the risk of miscalculation, confrontation and accidents," Carney said during a briefing. "We are consulting and coordinating closely with Japan, the Republic of Korea and our friends and allies in the region," he added. China announced the ADIZ without prior consultations, even though the newly announced ADIZ overlaps with parts of the long-standing ADIZs of Japan, the Republic of Korea and Taiwan and includes territory administered by Japan, Carney noted. "We do not accept the legitimacy of China's requirements for operating in the newly declared ADIZ, and the fact that China's announcement has caused confusion and increased the risk of accidents only further underscores the validity of our concerns and the need for China to rescind the procedures," he said. "As we have repeatedly said and our actions have demonstrated, we believe that these kinds of provocations create risk of miscalculation," he added.