"Asian aviation officials said airlines would have to inform China of flight plans before entering airspace over waters disputed with Japan, forcing carriers to acknowledge China's authority over a newly declared "Air Defence Identification Zone".
"China published coordinates for the zone on the weekend. The area, about two-thirds the size of the United Kingdom, covers most of the East China Sea and the skies over a group of uninhabited islands at the centre of a bitter row between Beijing and Tokyo''.
''Japan and its close ally, the United States, sharply criticised the move, which experts said was aimed at chipping away at Tokyo's claim to administrative control over the area including the tiny uninhabited islands known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China''.
''While China said the new rules would not affect "normal operations" for international flights, it added that it would take "defensive emergency measures" against aircraft that failed to identify themselves properly.
China's latest move could help spread the view that Japan was losing administrative control of the area, said Hiroko Maeda, research fellow at Japanese think-tank the PHP Institute.
An official at the Japan Civil Aviation Bureau said Japanese airlines flying through the region to non-mainland Chinese destinations would likely need to inform China of their plans. "Airlines have been advised to take greater care in the area," said another bureau official''.
"It's a unilateral step, changing the status quo in the East China Sea," Abe said in parliament on Monday, keeping up the chorus of criticism from Tokyo.
"It escalates the situation and could lead to an unexpected occurrence of accidents in the airspace. It is an extremely dangerous measure and our government has strongly expressed its concerns about it."
Source: Reuters
