China told Japan on Friday to « get used to it » after it flew six warplanes over the Miyako Strait between two southern Japanese islands in a military exercise, while at the same time sending a spy ship off Alaska to observe the latest successful THAAD intercept of a ballistic missile.
In an unexpectedly brazen rattling of sabers, just days after China deployed troops to its first foreign base in Djibouti, a move which the Global Times clarified is « about protecting its own security, not about seeking to control the world, Beijing made a less than subtle reversal, when it told Japan on Friday to » get used to it » after it flew six warplanes over the Miyako Strait between two southern Japanese islands in a military exercise.
It all started late on Thursday night, when Japan’s defense ministry issued a token statement describing the flyover by the formation of Xian H-6 bombers, also known as China’s B-52, earlier that day as « unusual », while noting that there had been no violation of Japanese airspace.
The flyover was hardly surprising: the Chinese navy and air force have been carrying out a series of exercises in the Western Pacific in recent month, both as they hone their ability to operate far from their home shores, as well as a trial balloon to gauge the reactions of their increasingly more nervous neighbors.
What made this flyover different, is that usually following a formal protest by the « offended » country, Beijing would take note and issue a token statement of its own, « neither admitting nor denying » guilt, but certainly without assurances of further transgressions. But not this time. On Friday the Chinese defense ministry said it was « legal and proper » for its military aircraft to operate in the airspace and that it would continue to organize regular training exercises according to « mission requirements. »
In other words, Beijing pushed back against Japan’s complaint suggesting that China had not only done nothing wrong, but that this behaviour would escalate:
« The relevant side should not make a fuss about nothing or over-interpret, it will be fine once they get used to it, » the ministry said in a statement.
