US Secretary of State John Kerry warns Beijing that setting up air defence identification zone in South China Sea would be ‘provocative, destabilising act’
While visiting Mongolia, Kerry said such a move would “raise tensions and call into a serious question China’s commitment to diplomatically manage the territorial dispute”.
US Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday warned Beijing against setting up an air defence identification zone (ADIZ) over the disputed South China Sea during a visit to Mongolia.
Washington would consider the establishment of such a zone – which would require civilian aircraft to identify themselves to military controllers – “a provocative and destabilising act,” Kerry told reporters in Ulan Bator.
The remarks came on the eve of a US-China dialogue in Beijing and after the South China Morning Post reported last week that Beijing was mulling such a zone, similar to one Beijing established over the East China Sea in 2013.
China claims nearly all of the strategically vital sea despite competing claims by several Southeast Asian neighbours, and has pressed its claims by rapidly building artificial islands suitable for military use.
Washington has responded by sending warships close to Chinese claimed reefs, angering Beijing.