Several governments joined Japan today in criticising China's latest bid to carve out a zone of control in the East China Sea, including Australia summoning Beijing's ambassador to voice opposition over the move.
As administrations around the world began lining up against Beijing over its unilaterally-declared Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ), dismissing it as invalid, Japan called on its airlines to refuse China's demands that they obey new rules when entering the zone.
China's declaration of an air defence zone has sharply escalated tensions in the region.
The rules Beijing announced at the weekend mean China has effectively demanded control over the airspace above a swathe of the East China Sea criss-crossed by vital transport lanes.
All Nippon Airways (ANA) initially said that since Sunday it has been submitting flight plans to Chinese authorities for any plane that was due to pass through the area, which includes islands at the centre of a bitter territorial row between Tokyo and Beijing.
Its affiliate Peach Aviation said it was doing the same "for now" and Japan Airlines said it was also complying with the rules.
But today the Kyodo and Jiji news agencies reported that both All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines had reversed that decision. They gave no further details on the climbdown.
The zone covers the Tokyo-controlled Senkaku islands, which Beijing claims as the Diaoyus, where ships and aircraft from the two countries already shadow each other in a dangerous game of cat and mouse.
Australia said today it had summoned the Chinese ambassador to convey its opinion that "the timing and the manner of China's announcement are unhelpful in light of current regional tensions, and will not contribute to regional stability".
"Australia has made clear its opposition to any coercive or unilateral actions to change the status quo in the East China Sea," said Foreign Minister Julie Bishop.
In response, China's foreign ministry said that "we hope Australia can understand correctly, and make joint efforts to maintain the security of flight in the relevant airspace".
Germany's government said the move "raised the risk of an armed incident between China and Japan".
The United States earlier came out forcefully in Tokyo's favour by affirming that the Senkakus fall under the US-Japan security treaty.
"This announcement from the Chinese government was unnecessarily inflammatory," White House deputy spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters aboard Air Force One.
