US and Japan held joint air drills over the Sea of Japan on Wednesday in a bid to show military might to China and Russia, who recently concluded their own flight drills in the East China Sea and the western Pacific on Tuesday.
US strategic bombers such as the B-52, F-35 stealth fighters and three F-15 air-superiority jets joined Japanese fighter jets to send a message to China and Russia amid Tokyo’s rising tensions with Beijing, especially after Chinese jets locked radar onto Japanese jets to the East of the Okinawa military base recently.
Japan accused China of breaching its sovereignty by locking radars on the jets, with China counter-accusing Tokyo of “creating hindrances in the predetermined flight path of the Chinese fighter jets”.
When asked about the exercises, White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said US President Donald Trump can maintain both a “good working relationship” with China and a “very strong alliance” with Japan.
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“Japan is a reliable ally of the United States, which is reflected in the personal relationship and our ongoing trade relations with the country,” she said.
When asked about China’s position on the matter, Leavitt was politically correct in her statement about President Trump having “a good working relationship with President Xi”, which he believes is “a good thing for our country”, she said.
Tensions between China and Japan escalated after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said in parliament in October that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could trigger a military response from Tokyo.
Things took a turn for the worse when Chinese experts recently threatened to launch a military operation against Japan if Takaichi does not retract her comments.
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