Military tension around Diaoyu Islands overstated

Xu Dunxin, the former Chinese ambassador to Japan and also a former vice-foreign minister, speaks at the political session of the Beijing-Tokyo Forum on Saturday. Photos by Zou Hong / China Daily

Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera has said that once a drone from China intrudes into "Japanese airspace", into which Tokyo has included China's Diaoyu Islands, the Japanese military may shoot it down, Japanese media reported.

However, Osamu Onoda, a retired officer of the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force's Air Training Command, said at the forum: "I used to work in the air force, and I don't find tensions increasing above the East China Sea.

"We are very clear of the activities of the Chinese navy and air forces there ... and vice versa for China.

"In the past year, there were indeed more urgent plane scrambles. But the Chinese planes did not get closer to Japan's airspace, and did not fly further toward the East. It is this fact that I must make clear."

Calling threats to shoot down Chinese planes a "deliberate provocation", Ministry of National Defense spokesman Geng Yansheng said at a news briefing on Saturday that the normal training and overflights of the Chinese air force, including its drones, in waters of the East China Sea are in accord with international law and practice.

"Chinese planes never have intruded into any country's territorial airspace, and China never allows other countries to trespass into our airspace," Geng said, urging Japan to never underestimate the Chinese military's will and resolve to protect state sovereignty and territorial integrity.

If the Japanese threats, including the "shoot down" policy, were ever carried out, it would be a serious provocation to China and an act of war, Geng said, adding, "China will take resolute measures to strike back, and the perpetrators will assume full responsibility."

Li of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said the Diaoyu Islands topic was treated as a "diplomatic agenda item" more than 40 years ago, according to the consensus between the leaders of both sides, but now the situation has sent "an alarming signal that the recognition on the islands topic is shifting toward a defense or security sphere".

Gen Nakatani, former chief of the Japanese Defense Agency when Junichiro Koizumi was Japanese prime minister, said that instead of seeking provocations to flare tensions around the islands, the two sides should put a crisis management mechanism in place as soon as possible.

The armed forces from both sides have already maintained an exhausting standoff for a long time, "which indicates a growing likelihood of miscalculation or errors taking place", Kouda said, stressing the need of the management mechanism.