By TAKASHI NARAZAKI/ Staff Writer
February 13, 2023 at 18:58 JST
A large balloon drifts above the Atlantic Ocean, just off the coast of South Carolina, on Feb. 4, with a fighter jet and its contrail seen below it. (Chad Fish via AP)
Japan said its own Self-Defense Forces will respond to any suspicious flying objects intruding into its airspace, not the U.S. armed forces stationed in the country.
“Flying a balloon over Japan’s airspace without permission constitutes trespassing,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said on Feb. 13.
Article 84 of the country’s Self-Defense Forces Law “will allow the government to take actions to protect people’s lives and property, by using weapons, if necessary,” the government’s top spokesman said.
The comments follow the shooting down of a suspected Chinese spy balloon and other objects flying over the United States and Canada.
Matsuno denied the possibility of asking the U.S. military stationed in Japan to shoot them down. That comes after the U.S. military recently downed an unidentified object that flew over Canadian airspace.
Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada said he is aware of suspicious flying objects spotted over Japan in June 2020 and September 2021, as well as an unidentified balloon-like object hovering over international waters off the western coast of Kyushu in January 2022.
The government is investigating these cases and their possible link to objects spotted in the United States.
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