The US is in a dilemma, being caught between Japan, which it considers a key ally and is eager to reassure, and China, whose relationship with the US is often described as most consequential in the world.

Right after China's ADIZ announcement, the US Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, described China's move as "a destabilizing attempt to alter the status quo in the region".

However, on Wednesday, Hagel and other US officials softened their tone and started to say that China's mistake was not consulting with other countries before the announcement.

The US continues to say that it does not recognize China's ADIZ and hopes China will not implement it, but the US has advised its international carriers to file their flight plans with the Chinese authorities.

US Vice-President Joe Biden also has tried to strike a balance between Japan and China. He rejected a joint statement with Japan over the ADIZ and did not call on China to retract it. Biden has tried not to let his long-planned visit to Asia be hijacked by ADIZ.

All these indicate that the US has tried to be more reasonable after its initial response of dispatching bombers, something that was bound to escalate tensions.

The row over the ADIZ provides both China and the US with an opportunity to learn how to better manage their differences, which will no doubt continue to surface for a long time to come.

Better management of the differences is the key in building the proposed new type of relations between major countries.

The author, based in Washington, is deputy editor of China Daily USA.

chenweihua@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily 12/06/2013 page8)