China sends fighter jets to shadow F-15s

[xchrom]

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20130113a7.html

China scrambled two J-10 fighter jets to the East China Sea on Thursday to monitor a pair of Air Self-Defense Force F-15s that were shadowing one of Beijing's patrol aircraft, the Chinese Defense Ministry reported on its website.

The Chinese aircraft was conducting routine patrol duties near oil and gas fields east of the coastal city of Wenzhou, the ministry said in a statement posted online Friday.

The ASDF's F-15 fighters "trailed and interfered with" the Chinese planes, which were conducting regular military patrol exercises, the ministry said, arguing Thursday's incident underscores the alleged increased surveillance activities by the Self-Defense Forces against China.

The Chinese J-10s also monitored a Japanese reconnaissance plane in the same airspace, it said.

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Old enemies harassing one another. The bad blood between them runs deep...

[Prometheus Bound]

2. China sends jets to shadow Japanese jets that are shadowing Chinese planes.

Sounds like a good plot for an "Airplane 12" movie.

Edit: I think this is the most dangerous relationship in the world right now -- China-Japan. All we need is one mistake for this to escalate in a way that no one can stop.

[Franker65]

3. Not as serious as it looks

If there was a confrontation, it would be interesting to see how the J-10's performance matches the F-15. Still, I don't think it would be the end of the world. Greek and Turkish fighters often clashed over disputed islands and it never led to an all out war. If you look at statistics, you'll see that China would probably consider it's trade relationship with Japan more important than the Senkakus. Both countries have far too much to lose. Japan purchased the islands and they are Japanese territory, whether China likes it or not. The Chinese will come off second best internationally if there is any incident.