Biden blamed China’s action for raising regional tensions with a pair of U.S. allies, Japan and South Korea, which the vice president warned would “increase the risk of accidents and miscalculation.”

In Tokyo, Biden blames China for raising tensions in Northeast Asia

(Toru Yamanaka, Pool/ Associated Press ) - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, left, is welcomed by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe prior to their talks at Abe’s official residence in Tokyo Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013. Biden, who is on the first leg of his three-nation Asian tour, met Abe, whose government is pressing the U.S. to more actively take Japan’s side in an escalating dispute over China’s new air defense zone above a set of contested islands in the East China Sea.

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By David Nakamura, Updated: Tuesday, December 3, 1:34 PM E-mail the writer

TOKYO — Vice President Biden on Tuesday said the United States is “deeply concerned” by China’s move last week to establish an air defense zone over a disputed chain of islands in the East China Sea, but he stopped short of demanding that Beijing withdraw its declaration.
Biden blamed China’s action for raising regional tensions with a pair of U.S. allies, Japan and South Korea, which the vice president warned would “increase the risk of accidents and miscalculation.”

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“We, the United States, are deeply concerned by the attempt to change the status quo in the East China Sea,” Biden said during a joint appearance with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
It was Biden’s first public comment on the dispute in the East China Sea since arriving in Japan on the first stop in a week-long trip to Northeast Asia. The Obama administration hopes the trip will help ease mounting tensions in the region.
Biden said he would raise the U.S. concerns directly with Chinese leaders in Beijing during meetings scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday. Biden finishes his trip with two days in Seoul before returning to Washington on Saturday.
“The United States has an interest in lowering tension in this vital region,” Biden said. He said the conflict has raised the need to establish a “crisis management” protocol between Tokyo and Beijing, along with better communication between the two countries.
Abe said that he and Biden, who met with aides present and then privately, had “confirmed that we should not tolerate this attempt by China to change the status quo unilaterally by force. We will work closely dealing with the situation.”
China declared control of the air defense identification zone above the Senkaku Islands, a disputed territory between the two countries that has long been administered by Japan. The move immediately drew sharp denunciations from the Japanese, as well as objections from Obama administration officials, including Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and Secretary of State John F. Kerry.
The U.S. military said it would continue unannounced flights through the airspace, but the Federal Aviation Administration advised U.S. commercial airlines to comply with China’s declaration by filing notice of flight plans with the Chinese out of an abundance of caution. Japanese officials ordered the country’s carriers to proceed as normal.
Media reports in Japan speculated that Biden and Abe would agree on a written pact or statement calling on China to withdraw its declaration, but Biden aides said such an agreement was never under consideration.
The aides said the administration believes that China’s move was “provocative” and that China is to blame for initiating the standoff. They said Biden will ask China to exercise restraint in enforcing the air defense zone to avoid accidents or miscalculations and to avoid creating new air defense zones in other places without first discussing the move with potentially affected countries.