Chinese stands firm on air defense zone

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman on Thursday again defended China's establishment of the East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) last month.[Special coverage]

"China's activities here are just, reasonable and comply with international practices," Hong Lei said at a daily briefing.

Hong made the remarks when asked to comment on the Republic of Korea's move to demand its aviation companies ignore China's ADIZ while not preventing them from reporting their flight plans to Chinese authorities.

Some foreign civil aviation companies have reported their flight plans to China as required by the ADIZ rules, which "is conducive for China to preserve its territorial and air security, and for their own flight safety and the overall flight order," Hong said.