[Courtesy of Republic of Korea Armed Forces]
Two Chinese surveillance planes have made an unheralded flight this week into a disputed area over a submerged rock which has been the subject of a territorial row between Beijing and Seoul, South Korean officials said Tuesday.
The brief flight on Sunday sparked a warning from South Korea's military through wireless communications that the Chinese planes had intruded into the air defense identification zone (KADIZ) controlled by Seoul, a defense ministry official said.
"The Chinese planes retreated without showing any aggressive motion," he said, adding such a flight by Chinese military planes is rare over Socotra Rock off South Korea's southern coast.
The flight followed Seoul's decision to deploy a new 5,000-ton patrol vessel aimed at bolstering its territorial claim over the rock in April.
The rock, known as Ieodo in South Korea and Suyan Rock in China, is 4.6 meters (15 ft) below sea level and is located 149 kilometers (93 miles) southwest of South Korea's southernmost island of Marado. It is 287 km away from China's Yushan Island of Zhejiang.
It lies within the overlapping exclusive economic zones (EEZ) of the two countries. The EEZ, which stretches out to 200 nautical miles from the coastline, is a sea zone over which a country has special rights regarding the exploration and use of marine resources.
Although international maritime law stipulates that a submerged rock cannot be claimed as territory by any country, South Korea effectively controls the rock by building a research station and a helipad in 2003.
Seoul wants the EEZ to be demarcated by drawing a median line, while Beijing insists the coasts and the population along them must be taken into account. China also argues the rock should be called Suyan Reef.
China had been cautious in handling the dispute over Socotra, but it started raising its voice in 2013 when it unilaterally declared its KADIZ over the area and asked foreign aircrafts to identify themselves when flying through it. South Korea responded with the establishment of its own KADIZ.
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