Air defense zone called option

It will depend on 'level of threat' from others, senior diplomat says

China could set up an air defense identification zone over the South China Sea if it felt threatened, a senior diplomat said on Wednesday amid rising maritime tensions caused by the Philippines' arbitration case.

The declaration of such a zone, which would require aircraft entering the zone to identify themselves to the military, will depend on "the level of threat we receive", said Vice-Foreign Minister Liu Zhenmin.