Two US B-52 bombers have flown over the disputed Senkaku/Daiyou islands, ‘in a direct challenge’ to China’s new air defence zone
By Peter Foster, Washington
5:46PM GMT 26 Nov 2013
THE United States sent a clear message to China yesterday not to over-step its territorial ambitions in the East China Sea by flying a pair of B-52 nuclear bombers through air-space disputed by Japan and China.
The flights by the two unarmed aircraft came three days after Beijing unilaterally declared an aerial identification zone over a large area that includes the Senkaku islands – known as Diayou in China – that are the subject of a bitter territorial feud with Japan.
The two US aircraft did not identify themselves as they entered China’s self-declared Air Defence Identification Zone, a Pentagon spokesman said on Tuesday, who pointedly referred to the disputed islands by their Japanese name.
“We have continued to follow our normal procedures, which include not filing flight plans, not radioing ahead and not registering our frequencies,” said Col Steve Warren.
The White House spelled out the significance of the B-52 flights, publicly rejecting the Chinese zone and urging Beijing to focus on diplomatic means to resolve the dispute.
Categories: Escalation / Destabilization Conflict
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