US, Japan reaffirm defense pact, amid China row

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and his Japanese counterparts reaffirmed their mutual defense pact, amid rising tensions over China’s new air defense zone. 

In a conversation with Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera on Wednesday, Hagel reiterated the Pentagon’s commitment to the Asian nation’s defense, “and pledged to consult closely with Japan on efforts to avoid unintended incidents.” 

{mosads}”Secretary Hagel commended the Japanese government for exercising appropriate restraint … [and] assured Minister Onodera that U.S. military operations will not in any way change as a result of China’s announcement,” according to a Pentagon readout of Wednesday’s conversation. 

Senior administration officials said Wednesday that Vice President Biden will talk to Chinese leaders about U.S. concerns while seeking clarity about why the move is being made at this time. 

“The broader point is that there is an emerging pattern of behavior that is unsettling to China’s own neighbors,” one official said. 

They said Biden would ask China to clarify its intentions of operating in international airspace as a civil aviation and as a strategic matter. 

“The vice president will make clear that we have a rock solid commitment to our allies at the same time he believes that lowering tensions and avoiding escalation is profoundly in the U.S. interest.”

On Tuesday, Rep. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) discussed the impact of Beijing’s air defense zone on regional security in the Asia-Pacific. 

Meeting with Japanese Ambassador Kenichiro Sasae, the chairman of the House Armed Services subcommittee on seapower subcommittee also pledged U.S. commitment to Japanese security, in the face of China’s aggressive expansion of its territorial claims. 

“We stand together in the face of China’s use of legal warfare and military coercion to try and alter the balance in East Asia,” according to a statement by Forbes’s office. 

The high-level discussions in Washington and Tokyo come a day after a pair of American B-52 bombers flew unannounced into a recently established Chinese air defense zone in the East China Sea. 

The flights were a direct rebuke of Beijing’s asserted authority over the area, located miles off of Japanese coastal waters. 

The bombers, based out of Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, entered the contested airspace as part of a training operation dubbed “Coral Lightning.” 

Chinese leaders instituted new rules for U.S. allied military aircraft operating in the skies above the Diaoyutai and Senkaku islands in the East China Sea. 

U.S. and allied forces are required to identify themselves and their mission to Chinese forces before entering the no-fly zone, according to Beijing. 

The two B-52 bombers did not do so.

In response, the Chinese Defense Ministry said in a statement that it monitored the U.S. bombers through the defense zone during their 2-hour, 22-minute flight, according to The Associated Press.

“China has the capability to exercise effective control over the relevant airspace,” the statement said.

— Vicki Needham contributed to this report.