FINANCIAL TIMES: …In what appeared to be a direct challenge to the Chinese claim, the Pentagon said that the flights were a long-planned training mission and insisted that the US would continue to operate in what it considers to be international air space.
The Chinese were not informed of the flights.
The Chinese defence ministry said on Saturday that it would establish the air zone over the group of uninhabited islands in the East China Sea in order to protect its territorial rights. Beijing also insisted that it would take “defensive emergency measures” against aircraft which entered the zone without identifying themselves… (more)
