| |
Japan, US Fly Fighters as Response 05/26 06:19
TOKYO (AP) -- Japanese and U.S. forces have conducted a joint fighter jet
flight over the Sea of Japan, Japan's military said Thursday, in an apparent
response to a Russia-China joint bomber flight while U.S. President Joe Biden
was in Tokyo.
The Japan-U.S. joint flight on Wednesday involved eight warplanes based in
Japan, including four U.S. F-16 fighters and four Japanese F-15s, the Joint
Staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces said.
The joint flight was meant to confirm the combined capabilities of the two
militaries and further strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance, it said in a
statement.
The flight occurred hours after North Korea fired three missiles, including
an intercontinental ballistic missile, toward the sea between the Korean
Peninsula and Japan, amid concerns about another nuclear test by the North. The
missiles fell in waters outside of Japan's exclusive economic zone.
Chinese and Russian strategic bombers conducted joint flights near Japan on
Tuesday, Japan's Defense Ministry said. Biden was meeting with Japanese Prime
Minister Fumio Kishida and their counterparts from India and Australia for the
Quad, an Indo-Pacific security and economic coalition meant as a counterweight
to China's growing influence in the region.
Chinese H-6 bombers joined Russian TU-95s over the Sea of Japan and flew to
areas over the East China Sea, but did not violate Japanese airspace, Japanese
Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said. Separately, a Russian IL-20 reconnaissance
plane was spotted flying off the northern Japanese coast.
The Chinese-Russian joint flight represented an "increased level of
provocation" and a threat to the Quad, Kishi said.
China said the flights were over the the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea
and the western Pacific. Defense Ministry spokesperson Wu Qian said it was a
"routine joint strategic air patrol" that has been carried out four times since
2019.
"This operation is not aimed at a third party and has nothing to do with the
current international and regional situation," he said in a video statement
posted Wednesday on the Defense Ministry website.
|
|
