Japan scrambled jets to monitor Chinese aircraft carrier activities

Japan’s defense ministry said that it has been monitoring Chinese aircraft carrier activities in the region for the past two weeks. The moves come amidst Japan’s plans to increase its military build-up due to tensions in the region.

In a press release on Monday, the Japanese defense ministry said it has scrambled fighter jets and deployed aircraft and warships to monitor China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier and five warships that conducted naval maneuvers and flight operations in the Pacific. Japan started monitoring the operations following the Liaoning aircraft carrier group’s transit between the main Okinawa island and Miyakojima island into the Western Pacific from the East China Sea on December 16.

The ministry said that before returning in the same way on Sunday, the Chinese carrier conducted 300 more take-offs and landings of fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. No incursions into Japanese territorial waters were mentioned.

China has previously conducted similar activities. However, the latest large-scale drills close to Japanese islands follow Tokyo’s unveiling of its increased defense spending over a span of five years in an effort to deter China from using military force to assert its territorial claims in the region, including against the democratically-governed island nation of Taiwan.

Japan has also reported that it has detected flights by a Chinese WZ-7 drone close to Miyakojima on Sunday and on Monday. This marks the first time Japan has spotted a high-altitude drone in the area.

On Saturday, Kyodo news reported that the defense ministry is making arrangements for plans to develop long-range missiles that are capable of reaching up to 3,000 kilometers with the goal of deploying the missiles by the 2030s. The Japanese government is looking to deploy a 2,000-kilometer range missile by the early 2030s and a 3,000-kilometer hypersonic missile that can reach any part of North Korea and parts of China by around 2035.

Japan has previously announced its increased military build-up, the biggest since World War Two. The $320 billion strategy includes acquiring missiles that are capable of striking China and preparing it for potential conflicts in light of flared regional tensions and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.