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Julian Ryall

The recent discovery of satellite images showing dummy US fighter aircraft on a Chinese military range in the Taklamakan Desert is expected to galvanise Tokyo to seek closer ties with the United States, Nato and other potential security partners.
Analysis by Turkey-based Clash Report and Bulgarian Military Network suggests that as the US positions its most advanced fighters at Marine Corps Air Station in Iwakuni and Kadena Air Base in Japan, the Chinese military has set up replicas of these bases and their air assets for more realistic training exercises.
An international relations expert told This Week in Asia the latest development was not a first, citing a similar case years ago, in which China seemed to have simulated US and Japanese naval facilities in Japan.
The latest aircraft images, first captured by Google Earth on May 29, revealed more than 20 mock-ups of US F-22 Raptors and F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters in the Xinjiang desert.


This Week in Asia has not been able to verify the images and there has been no official comment from China.
A number of the dummy aircraft appear to be significantly damaged, possibly as a result of simulated missile, drone, or ground-attack assaults by Chinese aircraft.
“All militaries have to train for all eventualities, so I’m not very surprised by these latest images,” said James Brown, a professor of international relations at the Tokyo campus of Temple University.
“But it is very much a reminder that both the US and China are preparing for the possibility of a conflict breaking out between the two sides.”

It will also further focus the minds of the Japanese government and military, he suggested, as the outbreak of any hostilities in the region – notably over Taiwan or the Philippines – would inevitably see attacks on US bases in Japan.
Despite the apparent threat to Japanese territory, Brown believes there is little that Tokyo can do in response.
“China can simply deny anything, while we also have to remember that the Japanese Self-Defence Forces all regularly practise for the eventuality of conflict,” he said.
“Rather, this will suggest to Japan that it needs to take more measures for its own self-defence, to work more closely with the US in the region and to develop security ties with other nations to supplement that security alliance with the US,” Brown said.
And with debate on the images emerging while Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is in Washington for talks with the leaders of Nato, then the timing is fortuitous, Brown suggested.


Reports in the Japanese media about China apparently training to attack military bases in Japan have caused concern on social media, with one message linked to a Kyodo News report on Yahoo Japan’s website stating: “In other words, if war breaks out, bases in Japan will be the first to be attacked.”
Others, however, suggested that China’s actions, of marking out mock-ups of airbases in Japan and leaving damaged replicas of US fighters visible, are meant as a warning to Beijing’s enemies.
On July 10, the US Department of Defence announced that it would be increasing its air capabilities in Japan by deploying for the first time 48 F-35 aircraft to Misawa Air Base, in Japan’s northeast prefecture of Aomori, to enhance “regional deterrence”.
The aircraft will replace 36 older F-16 fighters and, in the same announcement, the Pentagon said it would also be replacing 48 F-15 Eagle fighters at Kadena Air Base with upgraded aircraft. It added that it would be altering the number of F-35s at Iwakuni, although it did not elaborate whether that would see more of the aircraft at the base or fewer.


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Japan

Chinese military simulations of attacks on US air bases in Japan alarms Tokyo

Satellite imagery seemingly showing the Chinese military practising attacks on US fighter jets and aircraft carriers in the deserts of Xinjiang. Photo: X/clashreport

Images taken by Google Earth, featuring a model of aircraft carrier and more than 20 replicas of jets resembling US fighters. Photo: X/clashreport

Japan wants answers over Chinese buoy found in remote contested waters

Okinotorishima is largely submerged at high tide, with only two small islets measuring just 9.4 square metres remaining above the water line – and even those were built up with concrete by Japan. Photo: Asahi Shimbun/Getty Images

A Chinese survey ship is seen in waters around Okinotorishima in 2004. Photo: AP

Chinese maritime safety personnel place a light buoy near hidden reefs in the South China Sea to alert nearby fishing boats. Photo: Handout

Japan wary of new conflict ‘flashpoints’ in East China Sea over coastguard law: analysts

A China Coast Guard vessel sails near a Japan Coast Guard vessel off Uotsuri Island, one of a group of disputed islands called Senkaku Islands in Japan, also known in China as Diaoyu Islands, in the East China Sea on April 27. Photo: Kyodo via Reuters

China Coast Guard vessels fire water cannons towards a Philippine resupply vessel as it made its way to the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea on March 5. Photo: Reuters

Satellite images suggest China has been practising for strikes on US jets

The images appear to show a simulated strike on US war planes. Photo:  X/@clashreport

Some analysts say China may have been practising longer-range strikes on targets such as Alaska, Hawaii or Guam. Photo: X/ clashreport

Nato warns China over role as ‘decisive enabler’ helping Russia in Ukraine war

Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg addresses media at the  transatlantic security alliance’s conference in Washington on Wednesday. Photo: Getty Images via AFP

Nato heads of state pose for a family photo in Washington. Photo: AFP

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters 

Secretary General of Nato Jens Stoltenberg speaks next to US President Joe Biden during the Nato summit in Washington on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Monday. Photo: Xinhua/EPA-EFE

US and China owe the world their best effort to avert war in East Asia

Illustration: Craig Stephens

This Week in Asia

Politics

News

Asia

East Asia

Satellite imagery suggesting China’s military rehearsed strikes on American facilities in Japan sparks urgent security reviews in Tokyo


Satellite imagery suggesting China’s military rehearsed strikes on American facilities in Japan sparks urgent security reviews in Tokyo.


Diplomacy

China’s military

China-Japan relations

US-Japan relations