The Japanese Ministry of Defense today proposed an overhaul of its regulations to allow the use of weapons to shoot down unidentified aircraft that enter its airspace, after confirming that several spy balloons so-called Chinese have flown over the country in recent years.
Japan’s ministry raised the initiative during a meeting on Wednesday with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP), state broadcaster NHK reported today.
The possible revision of Japanese military regulations comes after the Japanese Ministry of Defense confirmed the day before that it had detected between 2019 and 2021 three unidentified flying objects above its territory, suspected of being Chinese spy balloons.
The current regulations of the Self-Defense Forces (Japanese army) limit the use of weapons to situations exclusively related to the defense of the national territory or the protection of its population.
The revision proposed by the ministry, and which must now be discussed by the ruling party, would aim to shoot down balloons or other flying objects that enter Japanese airspace without authorization – which would be a violation of international law – and could be considered a threat to national security.
A Defense Ministry spokesman consulted by GLM avoided commenting on this measure discussed during the meeting with the PLD and stressed that the Ministry “has not made any official announcement in this regard”.
The ministry also said yesterday that it believes three balloon-shaped flying objects detected over the country in recent years “are unmanned reconnaissance balloons operated by China”, after analyzing available information in this regard. and shared them with the United States.
It’s the first time Japan has spoken out on the issue since the United States shot down what it called a Chinese spy balloon that raided American airspace earlier this month.
Japan asked China “to confirm the facts related to this case through diplomatic channels” and insisted that these situations “never happen again” because it is “an unacceptable violation of space national airline,” spokesman Hirokazu Matsuno said at a press conference today.
The Japanese government “will continue to further seek and analyze information and monitor these foreign government aircraft more closely while cooperating closely with alliance and partner countries,” the spokesperson said.