The reply of China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hua Chunying to the question whether China plans to declare an air defense identification zone over parts of the South China Sea, after commercial aircrafts conducted two test flights in Fiery Cross Reef, was most unsettling.

She didn’t confirm nor did she deny the plan.

She said: “As for whether or not China will set up an air defense identification zone (ADIZ), the decision will be made based on a full assessment of the security situation and our needs. We believe that the overall situation in the South China Sea is stable.”

What then if the situation in the South China Sea, whole or parts of it, are being claimed by China, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan, becomes unstable?

Vietnam immediately protested the landing of commercial aircraft in Fiery Cross last Jan. 2. Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario said the Philippines will also protest.

Hua reiterated her country’s claim of “indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters.”

She said they have finished building a new airport and the test flights with a civil aircraft is “in order to test whether or not the facilities on it meet the standards for civil aviation.”
Read more: http://news.abs-cbn.com/blogs/opinions/01/10/16/china-not-ruling-out-south-china-sea-adiz