MANILA, Philippines — The moment China makes good on its plan to declare an air defense identification zone in the South China Sea, different countries can be expected to put up a challenge by sending warplanes swarming through the vital sea lanes, an American security expert said.

“If the Chinese declare an ADIZ, the minute they do it, planes would be up flying through it — American planes, Japanese planes, Australian planes, and probably European planes, including Philippine planes,” Ernest Bower, chairman of the Southeast Asia Program of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told a forum at the National Defense College of the Philippines in Camp Aguinaldo Tuesday.

Bower was responding to a question from former National Security Adviser Roilo Golez on how the US and its allies could be expected to respond should China declare the security zone over territories whose ownership it is disputing with several other countries, including the Philippines.

When China declared an ADIZ in the East China Sea, where it is locked in a territorial dispute with Japan, Japan’s Self-Defense Force and allies led by US rejected this.

In the South China Sea, the US has been conducting “freedom of navigation” flights and naval patrols, which China has protested.

At the recent Shangri-a Dialogue in Singapore, US Defense Secretary Ash Carter warned of “actions being taken” by the US and other nations should China impose an ADIZ and build structures in the Panatag (Scarbrough) Shoal off Masinloc, Zambales.

“I hope that this development doesn’t occur because it will result in actions being taken both by the United States, and actions being taken by others in the region that will have the effect of not only increasing tensions but isolating China,” Carter said.

China responded, saying it is ready for any “trouble.”

At the Camp Aguinaldo forum, Golez also asked Bower what would happen if China does built structures on Panatag.

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