The China Money Report

US aircraft were shadowed by Chinese fighters in airspace near the
border between China and Japan on Jan. 10, reports the Global Times,
a nationalistic Chinese tabloid.

A US Navy P-3C patrol plane based at Misawa Air Base and a US Air Force
C-130 cargo plane based at Yokota Air Base were tailed by Chinese J-7
and J-10 fighters last week. When both American aircraft reached the
air border between China and Japan on Jan. 10, Chinese fighters were
scrambled to intercept them, according to Tokyo’s Sankei Shimbun
newspaper. The report said the PLA Air Force’s move was an apparent
overreaction to movement of aircraft taking off from Japanese bases.

On the same day, PLA fighters also appeared near the disputed Diaoyutai
islands (Diaoyu in China or Senkaku in Japan). P-3C, EP-3 and OP-3
reconnaissance aircraft attached to Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense
Force were dispatched to collect data on the Chinese aircraft. Two E-2C
early warning aircraft were also deployed to prevent a direct
confrontation between the PLA Air Force and Japan’s Air Self-Defense
Force.

On Jan. 11, China’s defense ministry said that as Chinese aircraft
were followed by two Japanese F-15J fighters first, the two PLA J-10
fighters were only sent as a response to observe Japanese jets close
to Chinese airspace.

The Chinese foreign ministry claimed the fighters were only conducting
routine patrols over the country’s territory and denounced the decision
made by Japanese to “escalate” the conflict over the islands in the
East China Sea. Following Japan’s move to nationalize several of the
disputed islands in September, isolated but tense incidents between
vessels and aircraft of the two nations have occurred regularly in the
area.

While rumors circulate that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe issued orders to
the Japan Air Self-Defense Force to fire warning shots on Chinese planes
entering the Japanese Air Defense Identification Zone, PLA General Peng
Guangqian told the state-run China News Service that if a Chinese
aircraft were hit even with a flare, it would mean war. Peng said that
it would be up to the PLA Air Force to determine what kind of weapon
to use in response. The general stated that Japan gives China a perfect
excuse to launch a war should it fire the first shot.