Thursday, December 5, 2013

Is The U.S. Accepting China's New Air Defense Zone?



Team Obama Changes Course, Appears to Accept China Air Defense Zone -- Dan Lamothe and Yochi Dreazen, Killer Apps/Foreign Policy

Top Obama administration and Pentagon officials signaled a willingness to temporarily accept China's new, controversial air defense identification zone on Wednesday. Those officials expressed disapproval for the way in which the Asian power has flexed its muscles, and cautioned China not to implement the zone. But they also carved out wiggle room in which the United States and China ultimately could find common ground on the issue, indicating that they may be willing to live with the zone for now -- as long as China backs off its demand that all aircraft traveling through it check in first.

"It wasn't the declaration of the ADIZ that actually was destabilizing," said Army Gen. Martin Dempsey, America's highest-ranking military officer. "It was their assertion that they would cause all aircraft entering the ADIZ to report regardless of whether they were intending to enter into the sovereign airspace of China. And that is destabilizing."

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My Comment: The U.S. has toned down their rhetoric in the past week on China's new self declared air defense zone. The Chinese are noticing this .... and it will not surprise me if (in the next few months) they will be declaring this new air defense zone.

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