Japan Strongly Suspects China Sent Three Spy Balloons Into Its Airspace

Japan seeks confirmation from China, Defense Ministry says
China urges Japan not to follow US ‘dramatizing’ of flights

A balloon spotted in Sendai, Japan, on June 17, 2020.Source: Sendai Astronomical Observatory

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By Isabel Reynolds

February 15, 2023 at 2:09 AM UTC

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Japan’s Defense Ministry said three objects spotted in its airspace between 2019 and 2021 were probably Chinese surveillance balloons, giving its most definitive assessment for the previously unidentified items.

The government has sought confirmation from China and urged that there be no recurrence of such incidents, the ministry said on its website late Tuesday. Such airspace incursions, which occurred in November 2019, June 2020 and September 2021, are “totally unacceptable,” it added.