|
 Keeping up U.S. criticism, White House spokesman Jay Carney
assailed China for a "dangerous and provocative" move that increased
the risk of stumbling into a crisis, and said that was not
consistent with the behavior of a major power.
"We, the United States, do not recognize and we do not accept it,
and will not change the way the United States conducts military
operations in the region," Carney told reporters.
China's decision last month to declare an air defense identification
zone in an area that includes islands at the heart of a territorial
dispute with Japan has triggered protests from Washington as well as
Tokyo and Seoul, close U.S. allies.
The United States has made clear it will stand by treaty obligations
that require it to defend the Japanese-controlled islands, but it is
also reluctant to get dragged into any military clash between rivals
Japan and China.
Under the zone's rules, all aircraft have to report flight plans to
Chinese authorities, maintain radio contact and reply promptly to
identification inquiries. U.S., Japanese and South Korean military
aircraft have breached the zone without informing Beijing since it
was announced on November 23.
U.S. officials, including Vice President Joe Biden during a visit to
Beijing this week, have put pressure on China but are maintaining a
cautious line, apparently seeking to keep tensions from rising
further.
At Thursday's White House briefing, Carney dismissed as "semantics"
reporters' questions on whether the United States wanted China to
rescind its declaration or whether Washington could accept a
solution that allowed for the existence of the zone as long as
Beijing did not enforce it.
[to top of second column] |
"I have — and others have — made clear it is unacceptable," Carney
said. "We call on China not to implement it. I think if you don't
implement it, that effectively ... I think that's pretty clear about
what our policy is. We do not recognize it."
Carney also urged China to refrain from similar actions in the
region and to work with other countries, including Japan and South
Korea, on confidence-building measures, including emergency
communications channels, "to address the dangers its recent
announcement has created."
The top U.S. military officer, General Martin Dempsey, said American
operations in the region would be unchanged and that Washington made
clear to China that territorial disputes should not be resolved
"unilaterally and through coercion."
"We all benefit from stability in the Pacific, and I assess that the
Chinese are clever enough to realize that," Dempsey, chairman of the
U.S. military's Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Facebook "Town Hall"
forum.
(Additional reporting by Jeff Mason, Steve Holland and Phil Stewart;
editing by Peter Cooney)
|
