Japan’s Defense Ministry said three objects spotted in its airspace between 2019 and 2021 were probably Chinese surveillance balloons, giving its most definitive assessment for the previously unidentified items.
The government has sought confirmation from China and urged that there be no recurrence of such incidents, the ministry said on its website late Tuesday. Such airspace incursions, which occurred in November 2019, June 2020 and September 2021, are “totally unacceptable,” it added.
“Even if it’s a balloon, entering our airspace without permission is a territorial violation and the MOD will continue to gather more information and be on the alert for balloons,” the ministry said.
The U.S. has shot down four flying objects over U.S. and Canadian airspace in recent weeks, one of which it said was a Chinese surveillance balloon, reigniting suspicions over previously unidentified objects seen flying over Japan.
The remaining three downed objects in North America have not been found to have links to Chinese spying and may have been launched for “commercial or benign purpose,” U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday.
China has hit back with allegations of U.S. balloons flying over its territory and urged its neighbors not to follow the U.S. example in dealing with such incidents. Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada has said the Self-Defense Forces would have the option of shooting down such a balloon if it were deemed to be a threat to lives and property.
China advised its neighbor to take a cautious approach. “We would like to stress that Japan needs to be objective and impartial on this instead of following the U.S.’s suit in dramatizing it,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin told reporters on Tuesday.
Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong on Tuesday told South Korea’s ambassador to China that he hoped Seoul would make an objective, rational and fair judgment on the U.S. downing of the Chinese balloon.
