Chinese Spy Plane Flies Through South Korean ADIZ; Violating It for the 110th Time This Year

It is pretty clear that China does not recognize South Korea’s ADIZ:

A Chinese spy plane entered Korea’s air defense identification zone (Kadiz) without notice three times on Monday, but Beijing didn’t respond to Seoul’s requests for an explanation over their military hotline.

The Chinese military plane first entered the Kadiz northwest of Jeju Island at around 11 a.m., according to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The plane initially flew out of the Kadiz about 40 minutes later toward Ieodo, an underwater reef controlled by Korea in waters that both Seoul and Beijing claim, and briefly entered Japan’s air defense identification zone (Jadiz).

The Chinese military plane appeared to be a Shaanxi Y-9JB electronic warfare and surveillance aircraft.  (……)

Chinese military planes entered the Kadiz without notice 110 times between January and September of this year, according to data submitted by the Air Force to the National Assembly’s Defense Committee on Tuesday. This includes both cases of prolonged flight time within the Kadiz and brief entries. The number of entries increased 11 times over last year, when Chinese aircraft entered the Kadiz without notice 10 times.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link, but if Seoul wants to send Beijing a strong message about their displeasure over this, then they should join the US in freedom of navigation patrols in the South China Sea against Beijing claims to the entire body of water.

However, Seoul will likely not be sending any strong messages to China because taking on Beijing has consequences, so strongly worded protests that Beijing will just shrug at appears to be all that will done.  Besides South Korea would rather spend its diplomatic energy finding another way to bash the Japanese which has no consequences.