Japan, US fighters conduct joint exercises
Allies stage exercises amid rising tensions between Tokyo and Beijing over territory row
US and Japanese fighter jets today carried out joint air exercises, an official said, days after Chinese and Japanese military planes shadowed each other near disputed islands in the East China Sea.
The five-day exercise, off the southwest of the Japanese archipelago, involved six US FA-18 fighters and around 90 American personnel, along with four Japanese F-4 jets and an unspecified number of people, the official said.
The drill is being carried out over Pacific waters off the coast of Shikoku, the fourth largest of Japan’s islands.
It comes weeks after hawkish new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, won an election landslide following campaign promises to re-invigorate Tokyo’s security alliance with Washington and take a more robust line against Beijing.
It also comes as a stand-off between China and Japan over the sovereignty of the disputed East China Sea islands shows no signs of letting up.
Tokyo reportedly scrambled fighter jets on Thursday to head off Chinese military planes in an area adjoining the airspace of the Japanese-controlled Diaoyu Islands, which Japan calls the Senkakus.
A Chinese Defence Ministry official later said two J-10 fighters flew to the area to monitor two Japanese F-15 fighters that had trailed a Chinese Y-8 aircraft, according to China’s official Xinhua news agency said.