The US Vice President Joe Biden Monday started his East Asia visit, which will take him to Japan, China and South Korea. The visit is reportedly aimed at defusing tension in East Asia.

Biden, arrived in Tokyo late on Monday, as AFP reported, is expected to meet with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and lawmakers.

They are expected to talk about China's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) and other issues in the region. He will also attend an International Conference on Women's Rights, the Xinhua News Agency reported.

In Beijing, Biden will meet with Chinese leaders to discuss ADIZ and other issues.

In South Korea, he will visit the DMZ following a ceremony honoring US troops who died during the Korean War.

This long-planned trip aims to underscore the strong US commitment to the rebalance and to the US role as a Pacific power, according to a White House press briefing on November 27.

During a stop in Beijing, Biden will highlight "areas of concern, including regional tensions," the White House said in a statement.

More broadly, the trip to Japan, China and South Korea was planned to emphasize Washington's "enduring presence as a Pacific power ... and underscore our commitment to rebalancing US foreign policy towards the Asia-Pacific," the statement added.

Teng Jianqun, a research fellow on American studies with the China Institute of International Studies, told the Global Times on Monday that Biden's visit intends to develop a new relationship between great powers, adding that the US is hedging its bets on both the Chinese and Japanese sides as the two countries dispute China's establishment of ADIZ.

"On one hand, the US is sending B-52 bombers to challenge China's ADIZ, as a way to stress its presence in the Asia-Pacific region. On the other hand, it is asking its airlines to submit flight plans to China, in order to guarantee its aviation safety in the region," he said.

Ni Feng, vice director of the Institute of American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times that one of Biden's goals during the trip would be to cool the tensions between China and Japan over the ADIZ.

But the effect of the vice president's intermediation would be in question since the US is adopting a non-neutral position over the dispute, Ni added.

However, ADIZ does not dominate his visit. 

Zhao Kejin, a Sino-US relationship expert at Tsinghua University, said that Biden's visit to China is a regular official exchange between the US and China, the China Youth Daily reported on Monday. He added that Biden's main purpose of the visit in China will be to know more about China's new reform plan and the directions of policies after the conclusion of the Third Plenary Session of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.