China's Nov. 23 declaration of an air defense identification zone (ADIZ) extending to territories it does not control is just the latest example of its jurisdictional creep that reflects a larger strategy to supplant the United States as the preeminent power in Asia. Yet U.S. President Barack Obama's administration has responded to China's aggression with words of cautious criticism but no castigatory step, not even delaying Vice President Joe Biden's Beijing visit. China gave no ground to Biden during his Dec. 4-5 visit.
Washington has not explicitly called on China to roll back the ADIZ. Indeed, with its advisory to U.S. airlines to respect China's new ADIZ, it has opened a rift with ally Japan at a time when the imperative is for presenting a united front against an escalatory action that even Biden admits is "a unilateral attempt to change the status quo in the East China Sea," causing "significant apprehension in the region."
Japan has asked its carriers to ignore China's demand for advance notification of flights even if they are merely transiting the new zone and not heading toward Chinese airspace. This demand, unusual by international ADIZ standards, impinges on the principle of freedom of navigation of the skies.