By Ankit Panda
Was China trying to send a message?
South Korea authorities said on Tuesday that two Chinese fighters had entered South Korea’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea, near Jeju Island. South Korea responded to the incident by scrambling fighters.
According to Jeon Ha-kyu, a spokesman for South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), the incident occurred on Sunday. The Chinese jets left South Korea’s ADIZ after receiving a warning message. ”We took necessary surveillance and tactical measures adequately,” he said.
It’s unclear if the jets were operating in that airspace as part of a regularly scheduled patrol or exercise, or if the incident was an intentional attempt to signal China’s assertion of its own ADIZ in that area. In November 2013, China declared an ADIZ in the East China Sea that partially overlapped with South Korea’s zone.
Read the full story at The Diplomat