Japan’s PM talks up threat of war as jets scrambled
Print Edition
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told Japanese troops that Japan would not tolerate the use of force to change the region’s status quo, as reports said Tokyo had scrambled fighter jets in response to Chinese military aircraft flying near Okinawa.
Verbal skirmishing between Asia’s two biggest economies escalated as China warned Japan that any hostile action in the skies against Chinese drones would be construed as an “act of war.”
“We will express our intention as a state not to tolerate a change in the status quo by force. We must conduct all sorts of activities such as surveillance and intelligence for that purpose,” Abe said. “The security environment surrounding Japan is becoming increasingly severe. This is the reality. You will have to completely rid yourselves of the conventional notion that just the existence of a defense force could act as a deterrent.”
Abe presided over an inspection of the military at which a US amphibious assault vehicle was displayed for the first time.
Japan’s defense ministry plans to create a special amphibious unit to “protect” the Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea.
“There are concerns that China is attempting to change the status quo by force, rather than by rule of law,” Abe earlier told the Wall Street Journal in an interview following a series of summits this month with regional leaders.
“But if China opts to take that path, then it won’t be able to emerge peacefully,” he told Journal on Saturday. “So it shouldn’t take that path, and many nations expect Japan to strongly express that view. And they hope that as a result, China will take responsible action in the international community.”
In the latest sign of tensions between the region’s two heavyweights, Japan yesterday scrambled fighter jets after two Chinese bombers and two airborne early warning planes flew near Japan’s southern islands into the Pacific and then back into the East China Sea. No violation of Japanese airspace took place.
The same formation of Chinese aircraft made similar flights on Friday and Saturday.
On Saturday, China responded angrily after a report said Japan had drafted plans to shoot down foreign drones that encroach on airspace of the Diaoyu Islands if warnings to leave are ignored.
Tokyo drew up the proposals after a Chinese military drone entered the airspace near the islands last month, Kyodo said.
“We would advise relevant parties not to underestimate the Chinese military’s staunch resolve to safeguard China’s national territorial sovereignty,” Defense Ministry spokesman Geng Yansheng said in comments posted on the ministry’s website.
“If Japan takes enforcement measures such as shooting down aircraft, as it says it will, that would constitute a serious provocation, an act of war of sorts, and we would have to take firm countermeasures, and all consequences would be the responsibility of the side that caused the provocation.”
One of Abe’s first decisions as prime minister was to increase defense budget for the first time in 11 years. In the Wall Street Journal interview, Abe said Japan had become too inward-looking over the past 15 years, but as it regains economic strength “we’d like to contribute more to making the world a better place.”
Abe made it clear that one way Japan would “contribute” would be countering China in Asia.
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