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Japan warned China on Wednesday that any violation of its airspace by spy balloons is unacceptable. The Japanese Defense Ministry says a new analysis of unidentified flying objects in the Japanese sky in recent years “strongly suggests” that they were Chinese spy balloons.
With Frédéric Charles, RFI correspondent in Tokyo
The Japanese Ministry of Defense estimates that on at least three occasions since 2019 unidentified flying objects have passed over Japan.
“Upon further analysis of previously identified balloon-shaped flying objects in Japanese airspace, including those from November 2019, June 2020, and September 2021, we have concluded that they are strongly presumed to be unmanned reconnaissance balloons flown by China,” said a statement from the Japanese Defense Ministry.
The document added that the Chinese government had been “vehemently demanded to confirm the facts” and “that such a situation should not occur again in the future.”
“Airspace violations by unmanned reconnaissance balloons and other means are totally unacceptable,” it added.
The case of the Chinese spy balloon shot down by the United States has led this country to rethink the nature of these flying objects. The Japanese Defense Ministry can only assume that these must be unmanned reconnaissance balloons sent by China.
US bases
In January 2022, government spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno revealed, an unidentified balloon had flown over the sea west of the island of Kyushu. Further south, the island of Okinawa is home to most of the US bases on Japanese soil.
Close to Taiwan, Okinawan bases are used to monitor China and North Korea. Chinese ships, submarines and reconnaissance planes are sighted at regular intervals off Okinawa. Japan is considering the possibility of using missiles to protect its airspace against the intrusion of spy balloons.
Japanese media reported Wednesday that government officials are studying easing rules for shooting down objects that violate their airspace.
Currently, weapons can only be used in case of clear and imminent danger, the Kyodo agency reported.
“I think this case raises concerns that there could be a big gap in the Japanese defense,” Itsunori Onodera, the ruling party’s security policy chief and a former defense minister, told a meeting on Wednesday.
