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The US has flown two B-52 bombers over disputed islands in the East China Sea in defiance of new Chinese air defence rules, officials say.

China set up its "air defence identification zone" on Saturday insisting that aircraft obey its rules or face "emergency defensive measures".

A Pentagon spokesman said the planes had followed "normal procedures".

The islands, known as Senkaku in Japan and Diaoyu in China, are a source of rising tension between the two nations.

Japan has dismissed the Chinese defence zone as "not valid at all" and two of its biggest airlines announced on Tuesday they would heed a request from the government in Tokyo not to implement the new rules.

'Normal procedures'
US Colonel Steve Warren at the Pentagon said Washington had "conducted operations in the area of the Senkakus".

"We have continued to follow our normal procedures, which include not filing flight plans, not radioing ahead and not registering our frequencies," he said.

There had been no response from China, he added.

The aircraft, which were unarmed, had taken off from Guam on Monday and the flight was part of a regular exercise in the area, US defence officials said. Both planes later returned to Guam.

The US - which has more than 70,000 troops in Japan and South Korea - had previously said it would not abide by the Chinese-imposed zone.