US-Japan warplanes conduct joint sortie in an apparent response to China-Russia joint air patrol over Sea of Japan coinciding with QUAD summit
US-Japan warplanes conduct joint sortie in an apparent response to China-Russia joint air patrol over Sea of Japan coinciding with QUAD summit
Japanese and U.S. forces have conducted a joint fighter jet flying over the Sea of Japan in an apparent response to a joint air patrol by Chinese and Russian warplanes over the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea and the West Pacific Ocean on Tuesday when the leaders of Quad countries held their in-person summit in Tokyo.
Japan’s Defense Ministry said Thursday that four F-15 fighter jets from the Japan Air Self-Defense Force Chitose Air Base and four F-16s from US Misawa Air Base, both in northern Japan, flew together on Wednesday afternoon for training. It was meant to confirm the combined capabilities of the two militaries and further strengthen the Japan-U.S. alliance, according to the ministry.
Chinese Ministry of Defence on Tuesday said that China and Russia conducted “routine joint strategic air patrols” on Tuesday while media reports from Tokyo quoted Japanese Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi saying that Japan had expressed “grave concerns” over the joint sorties. Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Wu Qian said, “This operation is not aimed at a third party and has nothing to do with the current international and regional situation.” China and Russia have been conducting annual military drills in the Pacific in the past. Parallelly, the Chinese Foreign Ministry in Beijing asserted that China-Russia relations have withstood the new test of the changing international landscape and were moving forward in the right direction.
Japan’s public broadcaster reported that the mission is seen as a show of Japan-US partnership in response to North Korea’s launches of at least two ballistic missiles earlier on Wednesday. It is also seen as a countermeasure to the joint flight by Chinese and Russian bombers around Japan on Tuesday.
