Biden: China's Air Defense Zone Causing 'Apprehension'
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden said China's new air defense zone in the East China Sea has created "significant apprehension" in the region.
Biden told a group of U.S. business leaders in Beijing Thursday he was "very direct" about the matter during his talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The two leaders met for over five hours Wednesday, during which Biden said he expressed Washington's "firm position and expectations" regarding the zone.
U.S. officials said that President Xi was equally clear in laying out the Chinese view of the zone and of the territorial disputes in the region.
The U.S. has rejected China's Air Defense Identification Zone, or ADIZ, which China set up last month. The zone includes territory claimed by U.S. ally Japan.
Biden said China must take steps "to reduce the risk of accidental conflict and miscalculation," and refrain from making moves that increase tension.
The issue was expected to dominate Biden's meetings while in China, which continue Thursday during with Chinese Premier Li Keqiang.
Biden travels later in the day to South Korea, which has also expressed reservations about the ADIZ. Seoul is the last stop on Biden's week-long Asia tour.
On his first stop in Japan, Biden suggested establishing "confidence building measures, including emergency communications channels," to help reduce tensions.
The U.S., Japan, and South Korea have all sent military planes to the region in recent days, defying China's demand that they notify Beijing beforehand.
China has not interfered with the flights, but has scrambled fighter jets to the area, heightening concerns about a possible miscalculation in the air.
Ahead of Biden's arrival in Beijing, China's Defense Ministry said its determination to defend the zone is "unwavering, and the military is fully capable of exercising effective control," over the area.
The state-controlled China Daily newspaper also warned in an editorial Wednesday that Biden should not expect any substantial progress if he comes to China simply to, in its words, "repeat his government's previous erroneous and one-sided remarks."
Source: Voice of America
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