BBC Chinese recently reported that U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work announced that the United States informed China of its decision not to recognize a South China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone. Some U.S. officials thought earlier that the international court might rule in the next few weeks based on the filings that the Philippines submitted in its South China Sea sovereignty dispute. China may establish a South China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone just like it did in the East China Sea. Mr. Work commented, in an event that the Washington Post organized, that the United States won’t recognize the South China Sea Zone the same way that it did not recognize the one in the East China Sea. He said the move could be baseless according to the international laws and could intensify the tension in the region. China declared earlier that China’s activities in the South China Sea, in essence, are the same as what the U.S. does in Hawaii.
Source: BBC Chinese, March 30, 2016
http://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/simp/china/2016/03/160330_south_sea_china_us