The event, themed “East Sea: Cooperation for Regional Security and Development,” entered its last day on Tuesday, with a hot issue raised: whether China will announce its Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the East Sea after it has already announced the same zone in the East China Sea.
Professor Robert Beckman, director of the International Law Center at the Singapore National University, pointed out that the current main concern in Southeast Asia is that China may declare an ADIZ in the East Sea.
This concern is reasonable as the tension in the dispute between China and Vietnam and that between China and the Philippines have yet to be reduced, he said.
Recent speeches by Chinese officials and commentators suggested that China may declare an ADIZ in the East Sea at an appropriate time in the future, the professor said.
China may invoke protection of its national security interest to set up an ADIZ somewhere off its south coast, stretching about 100 nautical miles from the base line in the Gulf of Tonkin, Prof. Beckman said.