Kerry warns Beijing over South China Sea

Washington would consider the establishment of such a zone, which would require civilian aircraft to identify themselves to military controllers, “a provocative and destabilising act,” Kerry told reporters in Ulan Bator. 

The remarks came on the eve of a US-China dialogue in Beijing and after a Hong Kong newspaper cited Chinese army sources as saying Beijing was mulling such a zone, similar to one Beijing established over the East China Sea in 2013. China claims nearly all of the strategically vital sea despite competing claims by several Southeast Asian neighbours, and has pressed its claims by rapidly building artificial islands suitable for military use.  

Washington has responded by sending warships close to Chinese claimed reefs. Further US actions in the region “will give Beijing a good opportunity to declare an ADIZ in the South China Sea,” a Chinese army source told the South China Morning Post newspaper last week. Kerry said such a move would “raise tensions”.