Chinese Fire-Control Radar Locks Japanese Jets, Prompting Risky Standoff

China is playing some old Cold War games, and this time its target is Japan, a nation that is the United States' best ally in the West Pacific, and which has been dialing its armed forces back in. This time, Chinese fighters illuminated two Japanese F-15 fighters with a fire-control radar, an act generally determined to be hostile, since such an act could be followed by a missile launch.

This is a dangerous game.

Beijing escalated its war of words with Tokyo after Japan said Chinese fighter jets aimed a fire-control radar at Japanese F-15s flying near Okinawa, an action Tokyo called "dangerous" and "extremely regrettable."
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told his German counterpart Johann Wadephul in Beijing that "Japan is threatening China militarily," a stance he called "completely unacceptable," after the radar incident, Reuters reported.
Wang accused Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi of "trying to exploit the Taiwan question — the very territory Japan colonized for half a century, committing countless crimes against the Chinese people — to provoke trouble and threaten China militarily. This is completely unacceptable," Wang said, according to China’s official Xinhua News Agency. He added that Japan, as a World War II "defeated nation," should act with greater caution.

Hint to the Xinhua News Agency: World War II ended 80 years ago. China would do well to set aside any assumptions that haven't been updated since 1945.

What's more, Japan's tough new Prime Minister is proving herself to be the Land of the Rising Sun's version of the Iron Lady.

"These radar illuminations are a dangerous act that goes beyond what is necessary for the safe flight of aircraft," Takaichi told reporters, adding that Japan had lodged a protest with China and calling the incident "extremely regrettable," Reuters reported.
Japan’s government later said the Self-Defense Force fighters "were maintaining a safe distance during their mission" and denied China’s accusation that its jets obstructed Chinese operations, according to comments by Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara, according to The Associated Press.

"Extremely regrettable" is often Cold War-speak for "you're lucky we didn't shoot you out of the sky."

With the New U.S. National Security Strategy, Trump Revives Monroe Doctrine

China's playing a dangerous game here. It's an old game, a Cold War game, and we've had this trick tried on us, too.

Things in the Pacific are getting tetchy indeed, and we should remember that Xi Jinping's grip on the reins in China is getting a little loose. If he goes down, the question becomes who will replace him - a reformer, or a nut? Either way, they won't find a conflict with Japan easy or pleasant, and we should remember that the United States is still bound by treaty to come to Japan's aid if it is attacked.

Japan appears to be rediscovering that it once had a great martial tradition. Yes, they are facing a demographic crisis, but so is China; although China has many more young men and a lot more equipment to throw away. Japan's military hardware is probably better than China's, but as the Soviet Union proved in World War II - or the Great Patriotic War, as they called it - quantity has a quality all its own.

This could become very interesting very quickly.

Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.

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