U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrives in China amid tense airspace dispute

Just a day after he assured his Japanese hosts that he will press China over disputed airspace, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden arrived in Beijing on Wednesday to meet with Chinese leaders under a cloud of tension.

The visit comes about two weeks after China claimed a large swath of airspace over the East China Sea. That declaration prompted a war of words between governments as well as disputes over flights by military planes from the United States, China, Japan and South Korea.

"We, the United States, are deeply concerned by the attempt to unilaterally change the status quo in the East China Sea," Biden said at a news conference alongside Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday.

"I will be raising these concerns with great specificity directly when I meet with the Chinese leadership" on a later leg of his trip, Biden said.

Biden will meet with Chinese Vice President Li Yuanchao and attend a dinner hosted by President Xi Jinping.

Asia trip gives Biden chance to show off diplomatic cred

Why the airspace matters

The uneasy situation in the sky over the East China Sea has raised fears that a midair incident could cause circumstances to spiral out of control. It has also fueled concern about how far China is willing to go to pursue its interests in the Asia-Pacific region and push back against U.S. influence.

China is asking aircraft entering its air defense zone to identify themselves and submit flight plans. U.S. State Department spokeswoman Jennifer Psaki reiterated this week that Washington does not recognize the air defense zone nor China's demand to be notified of plans by jets from other nations to fly into the area.

Japan has told its airlines not to comply with the new Chinese demands, but the U.S. government has urged American carriers to follow Beijing's instructions.

The Chinese action, Biden said, raises the possibility of "accidents and miscalculation."

Biden promises to press China on airspace dispute

Praise for Japan

Biden praised the alliance between the United States and Japan, saying the U.S. commitment to Japan is critical. He called Japan the cornerstone of stability in the region.

Tokyo and Beijing's bitter dispute over a set of small, uninhabited islands in the East China Sea has already led to frequent tense encounters between the two sides' ships and planes over the past year. Now, China's new air defense zone overlaps significantly with that of Japan and encompasses the disputed islands and the natural resources around them.

But Geng Yansheng, spokesman for the Chinese Ministry of National Defense, defended China's actions in a written statement.

China's airspace claim, he said, "is a zone of safety, not risks, a zone of cooperation, not competition."

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Without naming the United States, Geng warned third countries about becoming involved in the dispute.

"Other parties concerned should also mind their words and actions, and should not do things to undermine regional stability and bilateral relations," he said. "Other parties should not be incited, or send wrong signals to make a very few countries go further on the wrong track, which will follow the same old disastrous road and undermine regional and world peace."