A former Japanese defense minister said the recent sightings of suspected Chinese spy balloons around the world had underlined the need for intelligence sharing between Japan and Taiwan on aerial threats.
Former Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said that while Japan and Taiwan cannot cooperate directly due to the absence of formal diplomatic ties, they can coordinate with the United States to share information.
Onodera is a senior lawmaker of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party. He previously served two stints as Japan’s defense minister from 2012 to 2014 and again from 2017 to 2018.
None of the Chinese balloons were shot down by the Japanese military, Onodera said. The country’s current regulations only permit shooting down foreign devices in self-defense or emergency situations.
Onodera said that authorities could consider loosening restrictions on the Japanese military’s ability to employ weapons against any incursions by foreign balloons as they could endanger public safety.
“If an object were to sink to an altitude used by commercial aircraft or crash, even if the risk is only small, it still represents a danger to people,” he added.
Japan’s defense ministry is considering changes to its policies that will allow it to more readily shoot down foreign aircraft that pose a hazard to civil air traffic in the future.
Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said on Tuesday that Japan’s military can take necessary measures to bring down foreign balloons violating Japan’s airspace in order to protect its citizens.
Beijing previously condemned the U.S. move to shoot down its balloon as “a clear overreaction.” It claimed the balloon was a civilian airship that had been blown off-course and posed no threat to national security.
However, Washington said it was likely a sophisticated high-altitude spying vehicle conducting surveillance over sensitive U.S. military sights, including nuclear bases in Montana.
Suspected Chinese Balloon Crashed Near Taiwan
Taiwan’s military said on Thursday it had found the remains of a probable crashed weather balloon likely from China on a remote and strategically located island near the Chinese coast.Taiwan’s army said its forces on Dongyin island, part of the Taiwan-controlled Matsu archipelago off the coast of China’s Fuzhou, observed an unknown object falling from the sky, then found the remnants of a balloon on a shooting range.
The sphere is about 3 feet in diameter with an instrument box marked with simplified Chinese characters—which are used in China but not Taiwan—and the wording “Taiyuan Radio No. 1 Factory Co., Ltd.,” “GTS13 digital datmospheric sounding instrument,” and “meteorological instrument,” the army said.
“The preliminary investigation determined that the remains were of a meteorological detecting instrument, which have been collected by the relevant departments for further evaluation,” according to the army.
Speaking to reporters at parliament on Feb.17, Defense Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng said the ministry has dispatched a team to investigate the crashed balloon.
“The national army … will not jump to conclusions just by looking at appearances. Answers will only be made after investigation,” he said.
“The ministry has rules in terms of response and will continue revising the rules in a timely manner to respond to new threats such as balloons,” Sun told the news outlet.
Last year, Taiwan said a small, propeller-driven Chinese aircraft flew very close to Dongyin in what the government said they suspected was China deploying a civilian aircraft to test the responses of the Taiwanese military.
The Chinese regime also deployed drones close to Taiwan-controlled islands near the Chinese coast last August when Beijing staged war games near Taiwan, which only ended after Taiwanese forces shot one down.
