TOKYO, Dec 11 (Reuters) – U.S. nuclear-capable bombers flew over the Sea of Japan with Japanese fighter jets, Tokyo said on Thursday, a show of force after Chinese and Russian military drills in the skies and seas around Japan and South Korea.
Japan and the U.S. “reaffirmed their strong resolve to prevent any unilateral attempt to change the status quo by force and confirmed the readiness posture of both the Self Defense Forces (SDF) and U.S. forces,” Japan’s defence ministry said in a press release on Thursday. Two U.S. B-52 strategic bombers flew in formation with six Japanese jets on Wednesday, it added.
The exercise follows a joint flight of Chinese and Japanese strategic bombers in the East China Sea and western Pacific on Tuesday and separate Chinese aircraft carrier drills that prompted Japan to scramble jets that Tokyo said were targeted by radar beams.
South Korea’s military said it also scrambled fighter jets when the Chinese and Russian aircraft entered its air defence zone on Tuesday.
The heightened regional tensions come after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi triggered a dispute with Beijing last month with her remarks on how Tokyo might react to a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan.
China claims democratically governed Taiwan and has not ruled out using force to take control of the island, which sits just over 100 km (62 miles) from Japanese territory and is surrounded by sea lanes on which Tokyo relies.
(Reporting by Kaori Kaneko and Tim KellyEditing by Chang-Ran Kim and Lincoln Feast.)
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