China Sparks A Dangerous Drone Arms Race In Asia

China's Wing Loong drone

China Sparks A Dangerous Drone Arms Race in Asia -- Shawn Brimley, Ben Fitzgerald, And Ely Ratner, Foreign Policy

How China sparked a dangerous unmanned arms race.

It's now been a year since Japan's previously ruling liberal government purchased three of the Senkaku Islands to prevent a nationalist and provocative Tokyo mayor from doing so himself. The move was designed to dodge a potential crisis with China, which claims "indisputable sovereignty" over the islands it calls the Diaoyus.

Disregarding the Japanese government's intent, Beijing has reacted to the "nationalization" of the islands by flooding the surrounding waters and airspace with Chinese vessels in an effort to undermine Japan's de facto administration, which has persisted since the reversion of Okinawa from American control in 1971. Chinese incursions have become so frequent that the Japanese Air Self-Defense Forces (JASDF) are now scrambling jet fighters on a near-daily basis in response.

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My Comment: The Chinese originally denied that the drone that was spotted near the disputed territories belonged to them .... since then the Chinese have admitted that the drone in question was theirs. In response .... Japan has now made it very clear that they are now considering options to shoot down any drone that approaches and infringes into their territory .... in short .... they are telling the Chinese that if this happens again they will shoot down their drone. One can only imagine how tense the region will become if such an event does happen.