Kyodo, via Reuters
A group of islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, in the East China Sea, are in a disputed air zone.
WASHINGTON — Defying China, two long-range American bombers flew through contested airspace over the East China Sea, days after the Chinese announced they were claiming the right to police the sky above a vast area that includes islands at the center of a simmering dispute with Japan.
Pentagon officials said Tuesday that the B-52s were on a routine training mission planned long in advance of the Chinese announcement on Saturday that it was establishing an "air defense identification zone" over the area. But the message was clear.
A senior Pentagon official said that the mission overnight Monday from Guam "was a demonstration of long-established international rights to freedom of navigation and transit through international airspace." The official said the unilateral Chinese declaration of expanded control "was provocative," and "only increases the risk of miscalculation in the region."
There was no immediate Chinese response to the flights conducted without prior notification as demanded under the new declaration from Beijing, which asserted the right to identify, monitor and possibly take military action against any aircraft that enter the area. The unexpected announcement by China was among its boldest moves yet in a struggle for power in Asia with the United States, and by extension its regional allies including Japan. The United States, long the dominant power in the region, has been scrambling to shore up its influence there, promising, in what it called a "pivot" to Asia in 2011, to refocus its energies after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan diverted its time and resources.
Having Japan in the mix only adds volatility. The country has its own tangled history with China, which has sped past Japan as an economic power and which retains bitter memories of imperial Japan's military invasion last century. Under its conservative leader, Shinzo Abe, Japan has refused to back down in the dispute with China over the uninhabited islands, which Japan has long controlled.
For the White House, the flare-up could prove a major distraction for Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. as he embarks on a weeklong tour of China, Japan and South Korea. Administration officials are eager to focus on issues like North Korea and an American-led trans-Pacific trade deal meant to bolster economic ties in the region even as China woos its neighbors with aid and investment.
The islands, called the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China, are currently administered by the Japanese, who consider the airspace above the islands to be theirs. American officials have been increasingly worried about the standoff, which they fear could lead to conflict. By treaty the United States is obligated to defend Japan if it is attacked.
But both China and America's Asian allies know that Washington's focus has been elsewhere, a reality that became evident when President Obama had to cancel a trip to an Asian summit meeting during the recent American government shutdown.
Pressed on whether the Chinese move represents an overt attempt to fill an American security void in the region, Pentagon officials responded by pointing to the American response to the catastrophic typhoon that struck the Philippines this month. The United States quickly moved in hundreds of Marines, dozens of transport aircraft and an entire aircraft carrier strike group. China's offer of military assistance was feeble by comparison.
However, Mr. Obama is fielding a new national security team with views on Asia that are still coalescing and with relatively little experience in the region.
In her first major speech on Asia policy last week, Mr. Obama's national security adviser, Susan E. Rice, did not mention the mutual defense clause in the treaty between the United States and Japan — an omission her colleagues dismissed as irrelevant, since American officials reiterate it religiously, but which troubled some in Japan.
But Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel wasted no time in responding to the initial Chinese declaration, issuing a statement on Saturday reiterating that the United States was "steadfast in our commitments to our allies and partners." He also repeated that the mutual defense treaty with Japan applies to the disputed islands.
American officials said Tuesday that the United States military would continue to stage a standard cycle of training flights over the East China Sea. The flight by the bombers was first reported Tuesday by The Wall Street Journal.
The move by China on Saturday appeared to be another step in its efforts to intensify pressure on Japan over the contested islands. In the past year, Chinese paramilitary ships have made almost daily incursions into the waters around the islands, including waters claimed by Japan. The incursions have led to a constant game of cat-and-mouse on the high seas in which the Japanese Coast Guard pursues the Chinese ships, with both sides using bullhorns and electronic sign boards to tell the other to stay out of its territorial waters.
Mark Landler contributed reporting from Washington, Martin Fackler from Tokyo, and Jane Perlez from Beijing.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: November 26, 2013
An earlier version of this article misstated the name of a Japanese airline. It is All Nippon Airways, not All Nippon Airlines.
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