Beijing: As US B-52 bombers challenged China's unilaterally declared new air defence zone over a disputed islands in the East China Sea, Chinese military today put up a brave face by asserting that it “monitored” the American planes as they pass through the airspace.
Reacting to unarmed American aircraft passing through the East China Sea Air Defence Identification Zone last night without informing China as demanded by it, a Defence Ministry spokesman said it has “detected, identified and monitored” US aircraft that flew the zone between two different times last night.
Defence Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said the US aircraft skirted along the border of the zone and flew in the north-south direction, 200 kilometres east of Diaoyu Island, state-run China Radio International reported. China calls the disputed islands Diaoyus while Japan terms them as Senkakus.
Yang said China has the right to identify, monitor, control and react to any flying objects in the zone, based on the rules for the rules set for identification of the aircraft while it pass through the zone announced by China on November 23.
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