BEIJING, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- A Japanese official Thursday said his country sent military jets into the East China Sea over China's disputed air defense identification zone, or ADIZ.
China established the ADIZ Saturday and said it would police all aircraft flying through the zone and demanded all traffic entering the area file flight plans with China first.
In opposition to China's mandate, the United States earlier this week flew two unarmed Air Force B-52 bombers over the East China Sea with the pilots not identifying themselves when entering the disputed airspace as required by China.
South Korea followed suit Wednesday by flying surveillance aircraft through the area without alerting Chinese officials, The New York Times reported.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga Thursday revealed Japan also sent military planes over the ADIZ, but he did not say when the flyover occurred, The Times reported.
The U.S. action drew a bland response from the Chinese defense ministry, which said it "monitored" the B-52 flights but announced no action. Suga said there was no Chinese response to Japan's flyover, The Times reported.
On Thursday, the Global Times, part of the Chinese Communist party mouthpiece People's Daily, said the United States, with its "defiance" of the ADIZ, had gained an "upper hand" and plunged "China into a relatively passive situation."
The Global Times also said Tokyo and Washington were unlikely to accept China's ADIZ.
South Korea's Yonhap News cited sources Thursday saying Vice Defense Minister Baek Seung-joo demanded China modify the ADIZ. The minister also said South Korea would not recognize the Chinese zone because it was set up without any prior consultations with his country.
The Chinese zone also covers the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, which China also claims. The islands, which China calls Diaoyu Islands, remains a bitter territorial dispute between the two countries.
Taiwan also claims the Senkaku Islands, calling them as Diaoyutais.
China has never given up its sovereign claim on Taiwan and seeks eventual reunification even though the two have had separate governments.
China's official Xinhua New Agency Thursday quoted a mainland spokesman saying the ADIZ is in line with the interests of both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Fan Liqing, of China's Taiwan Affairs Office, said: "Both sides of the Strait are of one family, and maintaining the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation is in line with the common welfare across the Strait."
However, the Taipei Times quoted Lee Chia-fei, a spokeswoman for Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou, saying Taiwan would continue to defend its sovereign claim over the disputed Diaoyutais (Senkaku) islands.
"The government defends our sovereignty over the islands and continues to protect fishing in the region," she said.
