Posted on 07/24/2013 8:32:01 PM PDT by TexGrill
Japan scrambled fighter jets on July 24 after a Chinese military aircraft flew for the first time through international airspace near its southern islands out over the Pacific, in a move seen by Japan as underlining China's maritime expansion.
Ties between China and Japan have been strained by a territorial dispute over uninhabited East China Sea islets and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe won a decisive victory in Upper House elections on July 21.
Japan's Defense Ministry said a Chinese Y-8 airborne early warning plane flew through airspace between Okinawa prefecture's main island and the smaller Miyako island in southern Japan out over the Pacific at around noon and later took the same route back over the East China Sea.
"I believe this indicates China's move toward further maritime expansion," Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera told reporters, in comments carried on Japanese media.
Chinese government spokesmen were not immediately available for comment.
(Excerpt) Read more at nation.com.pk ...
Uh - messin’ with Okinawa - Kadena Airbase and all - might be as much a provocation to the US as to Japan - but with leadin’ from behind under his desk Obama in charge here, it’s about like poking a caged pussycat for the Chinese......
With big ol’ Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, I’d be surprised if the U.S. didn’t scramble some jets too.
Pei-Ping
Sum ting wong
Bad neighborhood.
Confucius say plane flying during Japan teatime break China.
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