Increased Russian & Chinese Military Flights Near Japanese Airspace
The Yomiuri reports that 2010 saw a very big increase in the number of times Japan’s Self-Defense Forces needed to scramble fighters to intercept foreign military aircraft near Japanese airspace. As the graph shows, it has reached a high not seen since 1991:
ASDF jets were scrambled to ward off planes from China 96 times, an increase of about 2.5 times from the previous fiscal year, and Russian aircraft on 264 occasions, an increase of 30 percent.
According to the ministry’s Joint Staff Office, Russian aircraft accounted for 68 percent of the total number and Chinese planes 25 percent. Taiwan jets comprised 2 percent, or seven instances, while planes of other nationalities together made up 5 percent, or 19 incidents.
Last fiscal year, there were no instances of North Korean aircraft approaching Japanese airspace, although the ASDF scrambled on eight occasions against that country’s jets in fiscal 2009.
The ministry said no foreign aircraft actually violated Japanese airspace in fiscal 2010.
The article implies that the increase is because of the DPJ and a perceived decline in U.S.-Japan relations:
The increase in sorties to ward off foreign aircraft approaching the nation’s airspace appears to correlate with the Democratic Party of Japan’s 2009 ascent to power and subsequent tensions in the Japan-U.S. defense relationship.
A Defense Ministry senior official said, “[Foreign countries] might have been testing Japan’s defense capability as they regarded Japan-U.S. relations as weakened.”
The increased flights were also probably linked to the Chinese anger after the Senkaku boat incident and Russia’s increasing emphasis on its ownership of the Southern Kuril islands.
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