China ups their Presence in their newly declared Airspace

After totally ignoring the U.S, Flights the other day into China's NEWLY DECLARED air space, China decided to step up their presence:

China said it sent warplanes into its newly declared maritime air defense zone Thursday, days after the United States, South Korea, and Japan all sent flights through the airspace in defiance of rules Beijing says it has imposed in the East China Sea. 

China’s air force sent several fighter jets and an early warning aircraft on normal air patrols in the zone, the Xinhua agency reported, citing air force spokesman Shen Jinke. 

U.S. Navy FA-18 Hornets cram the flight deck of the 

USS George Washington during a joint military exercise 

with Japan in the Pacific Ocean near Japan's southernmost 

island of Okinawa Thursday, Nov. 28, 2013. 

(AP /Kyodo News)

The report did not specify exactly when the flights were sent or whether they had encountered foreign aircraft. The United States, Japan, and South Korea have said they have sent flights through the zone without encountering any Chinese response since Beijing announced the creation of the zone last week. 

Shen described Thursday’s flights as "a defensive measure and in line with international common practices." He said China’s air force would remain on high alert and will take measures to protect the country’s airspace. 

While China’s surprise announcement last week to create the zone initially raised some tensions in the region, analysts say Beijing’s motive is not to trigger an aerial confrontation but is a more long-term strategy to solidify claims to disputed territory by simply marking the area as its own. 

China’s lack of efforts to stop the foreign flights — including two US B-52s that flew through the zone Tuesday — has been an embarrassment for Beijing. Even some Chinese state media outlets suggested Thursday that Beijing may have mishandled the episodes. 

"Beijing needs to reform its information release mechanism to win the psychological battles waged by Washington and Tokyo," the Global Times, a nationalist tabloid published by the Communist Party’s flagship People’s Daily, said in an editorial.

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