China-Japan Tensions Rise with Creation of Air Defense Identification Zone
by Steven Wu
pan, South Korea, Taiwan, and the United States. Japan has declared it “totally unacceptable,” and the United States has expressed “deep concerns” about China’s actions. This Air Defense Iden- tification Zone (ADIZ) spans the airspace from the Japanese- administered Senkaku Islands (known as the Diaoyu Islands in China) to South Korean-claimed Socotra Rock, overlapping with Japanese, South Korean, and Taiwanese ADIZs. Within this area, China claims the authority to “identify, monitor, control and react in a timely manner to aircraft entering this zone that are potential air threats.”
O Legal Basis for ADIZs
The 1944 Convention on International Civil Avia- tion (Chicago Convention) recognizes state sover- eign authority of the airspace over their territory, including territorial waters. Under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UN- CLOS), those territorial waters span a 12 nauti- cal mile distance from the coastline. Article 87 of UNCLOS emphasizes the freedoms of navigation and overflight over the high seas. ADIZs, howev- er, are not grounded in international law and may extend hundreds of miles from a nation’s borders. Here, for example, both the Chinese and Japa- nese ADIZ reach the Senkaku Islands, some 200
n November 23, 2013, the People’s Re- public of China established the East Chi- na Sea Air Defense Identification Zone, prompting heightened tensions with Ja-
miles from both states’ coasts. Several states, including Japan, have unilaterally declared and ex- panded their ADIZs.
States typically employ ADIZs to guard against potential threats by
requiring incoming foreign aircrafts to provide identification and flight
information. Failing to cooperate is often used by states as a basis for justifiable self-defense.
ADIZs are administered by domestic military or civilian authorities, and nations justify them through preexisting international law. States typi- cally employ ADIZs to guard against potential threats by requiring incoming foreign air- crafts to provide identification and flight information. Failing to cooperate is often used by states as a basis for justifiable self-defense. However, states have fewer grounds to act against aircrafts merely cross- ing the ADIZ without approach- ing their territorial airspace. Therefore, states frequently
draw large ADIZs to provide increased stability in exercising the right of self-defense.
The East China Sea ADIZ
According to China’s Ministry of National De- fense, foreign aircrafts traveling through ADIZ are required to 1) report their flight plan to Chi- na’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs or Civil Aviation Administration, 2) maintain two-way radio com- munication, 3) keep any transponders turned on, 4) display insignia indicating nationality and reg- istration, and 5) follow instructions given by the Chinese government. Aircrafts that fail to comply with these requirements risk potential hostile re- sponses from the Chinese military, such as being forced to land or being shot down.
ILSA Quarterly » volume 22 » issue 3 » February 2014
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