China has reserved offshore airspace in the Yellow Sea and East China Sea from March 27 to May 6, issuing alerts usually used to warn of military exercises, although no such exercises have been announced, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported yesterday.
Reserving such a large area for 40 days without explanation is an “unusual step,” as military exercises normally only last a few days, the paper said.
These alerts, known as Notice to Air Missions (Notams), “are intended to inform pilots and aviation authorities of temporary airspace hazards or restrictions,” the article said.
The airspace reserved in the alert is hundreds of kilometers north of Taiwan and extends south from the Yellow Sea facing South Korea, to waters of the East China Sea facing Japan, it said citing information from the US Federal Aviation Administration.
The reserved airspace has no vertical ceiling, which is designated within Notams as SFC-UNL.
While civil aviation seems unaffected, it would take coordination for aircraft to transit such areas, the report said.
“What makes this especially notable is the combination of SFC-UNL with an extraordinary 40-day duration — and no announced exercise,” said Ray Powell, director of Stanford University’s SeaLight Project, which tracks Chinese maritime activity.
“That suggests not a discrete exercise, but a sustained operational readiness posture — and one that China apparently doesn’t feel the need to explain,” Powell told the WSJ.
If the reserved airspace is in fact linked to exercises, it “would represent a meaningful shift in how Beijing uses airspace control as a tool of military signaling,” he said.
China’s Ministry of National Defense and Civil Aviation Administration have not issued statements about the Notams and did not respond to requests for comment, the report said, adding this is not unusual.
Past Chinese drills have focused on controlling routes that could be used by the US military in the event of a conflict over Taiwan, it said.
The reserved airspace could “provide an opportunity to practice the kinds of air combat maneuvers that would be required in such a scenario,” US Naval War College China Maritime Studies Institute director Christopher Sharman told the WSJ.
China could be increasing its active military presence while US attention is focused on the conflict in the Middle East, the article said, citing a senior Taiwanese security official.
The airspace reservation is “clearly aimed at Japan,” as China attempts to deter US allies and erode US military influence in the Indo-Pacific region, the official told the paper.
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