Japan, US confirm coordination over China air defence zone

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and visiting US Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday confirmed bilateral coordination against China's newly-declared air defense identification zone over the East China Sea, with Biden expressing Washington's support to Tokyo. "We, the United States, are deeply concerned by the attempt to unilaterally change the status quo in the East China Sea," Biden told a joint news conference with Abe after their talks. "This action has raised regional tensions and increased the risk of accidents and miscalculation," said Biden. "This underscores the need for crisis management mechanisms and effective channels of communication between China and Japan to reduce the risk of escalation." Biden arrived in Tokyo on Monday for a three-day visit on the first leg of his three-nation Asian tour that will also take him to China and South Korea amid growing tensions in the region over China's air defense identification zone. The vice president said he will raise the issue "with great specificity" during his meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday. On November 23, China unilaterally set up the zone over a large area of the East China Sea that overlaps airspace operated by Japan, obligating all aircraft passing the area to notify Chinese authorities of their flight plans and identify themselves. The new zone covers airspace over islands disputed between Japan and China. It also includes South Korean airspace as well as Japanese islands that the US has used as firing ranges. In response, Japan, the US, South Korea have expressed regret, and the three countries also flew military aircraft through zone last week without notifying Beijing, while China scrambled fighter jets to monitor US and Japanese planes flying in the zone on Friday. For his part, Abe said they confirmed that the two countries should not tolerate China's attempt to change the status quo unilaterally by force. "We reaffirmed that policies and measures of both our countries, including the operations of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces and US forces, will not change and we will maintain close cooperation," the premier said. "We further agreed we will not condone any actions that could threaten safety of civilian aircraft," Abe added