So, the diplomat is running a story claiming that China turned back a Laos airline flying out of South Korea because it failed to comply with the ECS ADIZ rules. the full article is below -- I won't post it here.
Unfortunately, this article and the article it sources (from Air transport world) have both made failures in logic.
The original ATW article claims: "The Lao Airlines Airbus A320 departed from Gimhae around 8 a.m. for its home base in Vientiane. But after one hour’s flight time—which would have put the aircraft over disputed areas of the China Sea—i
t turned back to Gimhae citing lack of permission to fly through Chinese airspace, according to the Gimhae Airport Authority."
The diplomat article then interprets the ATW article as: "The report notes that the Chinese air traffic controllers told the aircraft that it
did not have adequate approval to pass through China’s East China Sea ADIZ."
The difference is subtle but important -- the ATW article says that they were turned back because they were going to fly through
Chinese airspace, while the Diplomat article interprets the ATW statement as the Laos airline
lacked permission to fly through the Chinese ECS ADIZ.
There is quite a clear difference -- lacking permission to fly through a nation's air space and being turned back is a fairly normal action. Unfortunately it seems that both ATW and the diplomat have interpreted the location of the airline's turning back as being related to the ADIZ, when in fact the Chinese MoD have come out and explicitly said the Laos flight turn back was unrelated to the ADIZ:
Q: Last week, a Lao Airlines flight from South Korea to Laos tried to fly over the East China Sea, but was forbidden entry by the Chinese air traffic controllers. Is this because it did not seek proper permission? And is this the first time China has banned or has stopped foreign airlines from flying across its Air Defense Identification Zone in the East China Sea? Thank you!
A:We got to know from China’s civil aviation authorities that the flight route of the commercial flight No.916 of the Laos Airlines will be crossing the airspace over the Chinese territory.
But the temporary flight plan application of the Lao Airlines was not expressed clearly, and the Chinese civil aviation authorities repeatedly tried to contact the Lao Airlines, but there was no response from the Lao Airlines.
On the morning of July 25, without getting authorization on the flight plan and route from the Chinese authorities, the flight took off and intended to fly over the Chinese territorial airspace. The Chinese air traffic control authorities rejected the flight from entering China’s territorial airspace according to relevant rules and working procedures. This event has no connection with the Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea. If you want to know further information, I suggest you refer to the Civil Aviation Administration of China.
So unless the Chinese are claiming that the ECS ADIZ is Chinese territorial air space (which they have made no such claims) then the entire notion that the Laos flight was turned back due to flying in the ADIZ falls apart.
