China's Air Force Is Intensifying Its Overflights In Japan's ADIZ

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Asia Times: China turns up heat in Japan’s skies, less so in South Korea

Chinese overflights may be running Japan’s pilots ragged, but their outcome could be strengthened Japanese defenses

While the world focuses on Chinese maneuvers in the South China Sea, an under-reported war of nerves is underway in the skies above and around Japan and South Korea.

A recent Rand Corporation report entitled China’s Military Activities in the East China Sea – Implications for Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force, suggests that China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force, or PLAAF, is seeking to wear down the Japanese Air Self Defense Force, or JASDF, by subjecting it to high-frequency aerial intrusions into, or adjacent to, Japanese airspace.

But while the PLAAF is also buzzing the air space of the United States’ other Northeast Asian ally, South Korea, the number of intrusions there are scarcer, indicating a milder political approach.

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WNU Editor: Japan needs more planes.