International News

Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ)- Recent controversies and its meaning.

Recently .China has announced that it now had an Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea. 

What is an ADIZ?

• It’s a section of international airspace over which a country declares its right to identify aircraft, ostensibly to protect itself from foreign threat. 
• It’s a product of customary international law but it’s not jurisdictional.

What happens once an ADIZ is established?

• A country would use radar to detect unexpected aircraft flying in the ADIZ and observe them. 
• This would sort some, if not most, into the category of being unthreatening. 
• Using radio, it would query those it was concerned about. 
• The country may ask who they are and what they are doing. 
• If they are not a security threat, that would be sufficient. 
• If the country was still not sure, it would launch an aircraft to intercept and observe.
• The country would not have the authority to do anything else unless it thought the aircraft was a direct threat to the country.

What’s the problem with China declaring an ADIZ?

•  The problem is that China’s ADIZ overlaps with the ADIZ that was created by the U.S. after World War-II and transferred to Japan in 1969.
•  Japan sees this as an affront to its sovereignty.
•  The bigger problem is that China’s ADIZ encompasses the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands claimed by both China and Japan. 
• This is the first time an overlapping ADIZ has been declared in an area where there is a sovereignty dispute. As a result, with China monitoring the space, and the U.S. and China’s neighbours defying it, there is now an increased risk of either a deliberate or accidental incident involving military aircraft. 
• Some are also concerned that China thinks the ADIZ will strengthen its claim over the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands.