US, Japan Hold Joint Air Exercise after China-Russia Patrols
Japan said Thursday it held a joint air exercise with the United States in a show of force, days after Chinese-Russian patrols in the region and following weeks of diplomatic feuding between Tokyo and Beijing.
The Japanese joint chiefs of staff said Wednesday’s exercise with the US Air Force was conducted in “an increasingly severe security environment surrounding our country”.
Tokyo said Wednesday that two Russian Tu-95 nuclear-capable bombers flew a day earlier from the Sea of Japan to rendezvous with two Chinese H-6 bombers in the East China Sea, then conducted a joint flight around the country, reported AFP.
Japan said that it scrambled fighter jets in response.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi angered Beijing last month by suggesting that Japan would intervene with military force in any Chinese attack on Taiwan.
Thursday’s announcement by Japan’s chiefs of staff said: “We confirmed the strong resolve of Japan and the United States not to allow any unilateral change of the status quo by force, as well as the readiness of the Self-Defense Forces and the US military.”
In a separate statement it said that the “tactical exercises” over the Japan Sea involved two US B52 bombers, three Japanese F-35 fighter jets and three Japanese F-15s.
The joint exercise came as the United States criticized Beijing for the first time on Wednesday after Chinese military aircraft locked radar onto Japanese jets on Saturday.
