Japan said on Thursday it held joint air drills with the United States in a show of force, days after Chinese and Russian patrols in the area and weeks of diplomatic spat between Tokyo and Beijing.
Japan’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said Wednesday’s drill with the U.S. Air Force took place amid “an increasingly severe security environment surrounding our country.”
Tokyo said on Wednesday that two Russian Tu-95 nuclear bombers flew from the Sea of Japan to the East China Sea a day ago to rendezvous with two Chinese H-6 bombers and then conducted joint flights across Japan.
Japan said it had scrambled fighter jets in response.
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi angered Beijing last month by suggesting Japan would intervene with force in any Chinese attack on Taiwan.
“We confirm the firm determination of Japan and the United States not to allow any unilateral force to change the status quo, as well as the readiness of the Self-Defense Forces and the U.S. military,” Japan’s chief of staff said in a statement on Thursday.
Japan said in a separate statement that the “tactical exercise” over the Sea of Japan involved two U.S. B52 bombers, three Japanese F-35 fighter jets and three Japanese F-15s.
The joint drills come as the United States criticized Beijing for the first time on Wednesday after Chinese military jets targeted Japanese aircraft with radar on Saturday.
According to Japan, J-15 fighter jets aboard the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning twice locked onto the radar of Japanese aircraft in international waters near Okinawa, and Japan scrambled to respond.
“China’s actions are not conducive to regional peace and stability,” a U.S. State Department spokesman told AFP on Wednesday.
“The U.S.-Japan alliance is stronger and more united than ever. Our commitment to our ally Japan is unwavering, and we remain in close contact on this and other issues.”
Fighters use radar for fire control, target identification and search and rescue operations.
Tokyo also summoned Beijing’s ambassador after the radar incident, with the two countries offering different accounts of the incident.
Japan said it scrambled F-15 fighter jets because it was concerned about possible “airspace violations.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun on Wednesday accused Japan of sending fighter jets to “invade China’s training areas without authorization, carry out close reconnaissance and harassment, create tension and continue to maliciously hype the situation.”
Gao’s comments about intervening in any Taiwanese emergency have angered Beijing, which claims the self-ruled island as its own and has not ruled out seizing it by force.
Tokyo was forced to deny a Wall Street Journal report that U.S. President Donald Trump advised Taka not to anger China over Taiwan’s sovereignty.
But Tokyo is apparently frustrated by a lack of public support from senior officials in Washington and is urging the United States to be more outspoken, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.
-“Pity”-
Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi told the
Rutte made the statement after a 15-minute video conference with Junichiro Koizumi, Japan’s Defense Ministry said in a statement.
Koizumi said Rutte “affirmed that the security of the Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic regions are completely inseparable.”
South Korea said on Tuesday that Russian and Chinese warplanes had also entered its air defense zone, and Seoul also deployed fighter jets that day.
Beijing confirmed late on Tuesday that it had organized exercises with the Russian military under an “annual cooperation plan”.
Moscow also called it a routine exercise, saying it lasted eight hours and that a number of foreign fighter jets followed Russian and Chinese aircraft.
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