US and Japan hold joint air exercise

JAPAN said yesterday it held a joint air exercise with the US in a show of force, days after Chinese-Russian patrols in the region and following weeks of diplomatic feuding between Tokyo and Beijing.

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The Japanese joint chiefs of staff said this week's exercise with the US Air Force was conducted in "an increasingly severe security environment surrounding our country".

Tokyo said that two Russian Tu-95 nuclear-capable bombers flew a day earlier from the Sea of Japan to rendezvous with two Chinese H-6 bombers in the East China Sea, then conducted a joint flight around the country.

Japan said that it scrambled fighter jets in response.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi angered Beijing last month by suggesting that Japan would intervene with military force in any Chinese attack on Taiwan.

Yesterday's announcement by Japan's chiefs of staff said: "We confirmed the strong resolve of Japan and the US not to allow any unilateral change of the status quo by force, as well as the readiness of the Self-Defence Forces and the US military."