The territorial violation by China is the latest in a series of events amplifying tensions between Beijing and Japan.
A Chinese military surveillance plane breached Japanese airspace off the country’s southwestern coast on Monday, marking what Japan’s defense ministry described as the first known incursion by China’s military into its territorial airspace.
According to a ministry official, a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft briefly entered Japanese territory near Nagasaki Prefecture around 11:30 a.m. on Monday. In response, Japan’s Self-Defense Force put fighter jets on high alert and issued a warning to the Chinese aircraft.
While Chinese planes frequently appear in international airspace around Japan, this incident represents the first confirmed entry of a military aircraft into Japan’s territorial airspace.
And China would’ve been completely in the right if they shot those balloons down. It was a violation of their sovereignty. An ironic one, considering China did it first, but nonetheless, it enters their airspace without permission. China would be totally justified in shooting them down. I’m not sure why you think this is some sort of gotcha.
Additionally, they didn’t panic at bad press. They were waiting for the balloon to clear land so that when they shot it down, the debris wouldn’t rain down on anyone.
Once again, if these were truly just weather balloons for research, the university conducting the research and the Chinese government are incredibly negligent for not at least informing the US. For innocuous scientific research, there should be no problem with open communication.