Japan's ruling bloc on Thursday approved the government's plan of relaxing the requirements for weapon use against flying objects violating the nation's airspace, amid concerns over how to respond to territorial incursions by Chinese spy balloons.
The plan, explained by government officials during a meeting of the Liberal Democratic Party, would enable the Self-Defense Forces to fire weapons to secure the safety of air traffic and protect the lives and properties of people on the ground, LDP lawmakers said.
Currently, the Japanese forces can use arms only for legitimate self-defense or the avoidance of clear and present danger, while the SDF law stipulates that "necessary measures" can be taken if foreign aircraft enter Japan's skies.
Following the greenlight by the LDP, led by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, its junior coalition party Komeito also endorsed the government's plan, expected to be realized by reviewing operations instead of amending the legislation.
The move came after the Defense Ministry said Tuesday that at least three unidentified flying objects spotted over Japan's territorial airspace in three years from 2019 are "strongly suspected" to have been Chinese unmanned spy balloons.
Itsunori Onodera, a former defense minister who heads the LDP's research commission on national security, said during Thursday's gathering, "We will ask the government to prepare quickly so that it can be ready as soon as possible" to shoot down incoming objects.
The three flying objects detected domestically were in Kagoshima Prefecture, southwestern Japan, in November 2019 and the northeastern prefectures of Miyagi and Aomori in June 2020 and September 2021, respectively, according to the ministry.
The United States shot down a Chinese balloon on Feb. 4 off the coast of South Carolina, renewing tensions between Washington and Beijing.
On Thursday, Gen. Shunji Izutsu, chief of staff of Japan's Air Self-Defense Force, told a press conference that it is possible for the SDF to destroy balloons intruding into the country's airspace "by means such as using air-to-air missiles from fighter jets."
The government has decided that shooting down an unmanned aircraft including a balloon would not be an issue since no human life would be lost, the lawmakers said.
The law currently assumes that only manned aircraft can pose a threat to the country, but the use of military drones has also been increasing recently.
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