The United States has strenuously objected to China’s new air zone over islands managed by Japan, but experts say its best hope is to contain rather than end tensions.
After Beijing last month declared an Air Defence Identification Zone in the area of the East China Sea, asking foreign planes to identify themselves, the United States defiantly flew through B-52 jets. US allies Japan and South Korea followed suit.
But in Washington, few are holding their breath that China -- where hostility toward Japan runs deep -- will reverse its decision. President Barack Obama’s administration has instead put a priority on preventing an escalation.
Vice-President Joe Biden met on Wednesday for more than five hours with China's President Xi Jinping.
He said later of his talks in Beijing: “I was absolutely clear on behalf of my president: We do not recognise the zone. It will have no effect on American operations. Just ask my general -- none, zero.”
But the United States has not explicitly called on China to rescind the zone and instead has called on China to set up an emergency hotline with Japan to prevent a mishap between the world’s two largest economies.