Japan ‘Strongly Suspects’ Chinese Surveillance Balloons Entered its Airspace

Japan on Tuesday said that uncrewed surveillance balloons flew over the country’s airspace in recent years could be Chinese surveillance balloons.

The country’s defence ministry said that it “strongly suspects” that Chinese surveillance balloons had entered its territory at least three times since 2019.

“As a result of further analysis by the government of balloon-shaped flying objects that were confirmed in our airspace in the past, it is strongly presumed that the balloons in question were unmanned reconnaissance balloons flown by China,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told reporters.

It added that the violations of its airspace by uncrewed surveillance balloons were “absolutely unacceptable.”

The statement comes days the US detected several unidentified objects in the North American airspace over the US and Canada. The US also shot down a Chinese spy balloon over Alaska, which was later shot down on the orders of President Joe Biden.

Japan’s government is considering relaxing requirements on the use of weapons to defend against intrusions of its airspace, the Kyodo news agency reported on Wednesday.

It further said that unidentified aerial objects that flew over Japan’s airspace in November 2019, June 2020 and September 2021.

It said it had “strongly demanded China’s government confirm the facts” of the incident and “that such a situation not occur again in the future”.

Japan said last week it was re-analysing a series of incidents involving unidentified aerial objects in light of a Chinese spy balloon shot down by the United States after crossing US territory.

“This case, I think, raises worries for us that may be a huge hole in Japan’s defence,” ruling party security policy chief and former defence minister Itsunori Onodera told a meeting Wednesday.

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