To monitor Chinese military drone spotted near Taiwan, Japan scrambles fighter jets

Japan’s defence ministry said on Monday it scrambled fighter jets to monitor a Chinese BZK-005 military drone that was spotted flying between Japan’s westernmost Yonaguni island and Taiwan in the morning.

The spy drone allegedly came from the East China Sea north of Taiwan and went to the Bashi Channel that separates Taiwan’s southern coast and the Philippines, the ministry said.

Earlier on Friday, Japan also scrambled its Air Self-Defense Force fighters to monitor Chinese bombers flying near Japan’s Okinawa island, home to a major US military base, as well as to drones spotted near self-ruled Taiwan.

Two Chinese H-6 bombers were spotted flying through the strait between southwest Japan’s Okinawa and Miyako islands connecting the East China Sea and the Pacific on Friday morning, the ministry said.

The Okinawa base is one of the major American military bases in the Asia-Pacific and the centre of Japan and the United States’ defence buildup. It was set up to deter China from attacking Taiwan or any of the nearby Japanese islands.

In a separate statement, the ministry said it also spotted a Chinese military drone and another “likely Chinese” drone flying between Japan’s westernmost Yonaguni island and Taiwan during the day.

Japan dispatched its jets to follow the drones, which eventually turned towards mainland China, it said.

Taiwan’s defence ministry had reported renewed Chinese military activity around the island earlier, including 13 aircraft entering Taiwan’s “response” zone and five ships carrying out combat readiness patrols.

China, at the time had said it was routine military exercises being followed in the area.