Former Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera pointed out that the Chinese spy balloon incident shows that Japan and Taiwan need to share "critical" information about possible aerial threats.

(Reuters file photo)

Consider sharing through the US ally

[Compiler Guan Shuping/Comprehensive Report] Chinese spy balloons have invaded the airspace of the United States. The Japanese government has also expressed suspicion that such Chinese balloons have flown over Japan at least three times in the past.

Onodera Onodera, an influential former Japanese defense minister, current member of parliament, and chairman of the Liberal Democratic Party's Security Investigation Committee of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said on the 16th that the Chinese spy balloon incident shows that Japan and Taiwan need to share information about possible airspace. Threats to "critical" intelligence.

"We don't have those bilateral relations with Taiwan, so we don't cooperate in that, but the Japanese government will have to think about what to do in the future," Onodera said. He believes that one possible way for Japan and Taiwan to share intelligence is through relations. The United States, a close ally, said it would visit Taiwan in January to be briefed on China's threat to the island.

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The Japanese government recently stated that it suspects that Chinese balloons of this type have flown over Japan at least three times in the past, the most recent being in 2021.

The Japanese government took no action to intercept these three incidents.

On the 16th, Ministry of Defense officials briefed Onodera and other members of the House of Representatives to discuss the possibility of revising the rules of engagement to allow the Japan Air Self-Defense Force to shoot down unmanned aerial vehicles, including balloons that may endanger air traffic and people on the ground.

Representative Kihara Minoru said after the meeting, "The current regulations apply to manned aircraft or military aircraft, and the amendment will increase the inclusion of unmanned aircraft." The Self-Defense Force will start training pilots to meet these goals.

Balloons boost global alert awareness

Voice of America (VOA) reported that regarding whether the Chinese spy balloon incident is like the "Sputnik crisis" that caused anxiety in the West when the Soviet Union preempted the United States in successfully launching a satellite in 1957, Osgood, a history professor at the Colorado School of Mines, believes that, The Chinese spy balloon operation is a symbol of weakness, not strength, and the balloon does not represent a major technological breakthrough that may throw off the United States; former senior official of the Central Intelligence Agency and former Director of the Intelligence Program at the Belfer Center for Science and International Relations at Harvard University Kolbe It's hard to say that this is a "Sputnik" moment, but it has a similar effect, drawing international attention to China's espionage activities as a whole. Considering the political damage caused by this incident and the heightened awareness of global vigilance, no matter what intelligence China collects through spy balloons "The gains outweigh the losses."

What's more important, Kolbe said, is to examine the overall scope of China's intelligence-scouting operations.

Chinese spy network problem bigger than balloons

Chairman of the House of Representatives Government Reform and Oversight Committee Cuomo and former CIA Chief of Staff Larry Pfeiffer also pointed out that spy balloons are part of China's large-scale comprehensive intelligence collection network. Others include spy satellites and intelligence officers. The department is targeting American politics, military, academics, science, and economy in a multi-pronged manner. This "huge spy network" is a bigger problem than spy balloons.

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