Wednesday, January 25th., 2017
First Ever: ‘Pacifist’ Japan Launches Military Communications Satellite
First Ever: ‘Pacifist’ Japan Launches Military Communications Satellite
Japan
has launched a large military satellite from a base on the country’s
southern-most islands, just across from China, an area in which Tokyo
and Beijing have clashed over the gas-rich East China Sea.
"...Analysts and spectators keep an unblinking eye on the South China Sea
but the East China Sea is hardly less controversial. A group of five
tiny uninhabited islands called Senkaku by Tokyo, and Diaoyu by Beijing,
have caused political tensions between the neighbor nations to boil.
Taiwan claims the islands, too. For Beijing, establishing ownership
of Diaoyu/Senkaku is ‘critical’ to forming a cordon sanitaire that marks
China’s maritime boundaries, a recent article in The Diplomat noted. Further, Tokyo and Beijing claim exclusive but overlapping economic rights to the same gas fields...."
The
X-band satellite successfully reached orbit after blasting off on the
back of a Mistubishi H-IIA rocket, a spokesman from Mitsubishi Heavy
Industries said. Tokyo expects to send three X-band satellites
into orbit over the coming years to quadruple the nation’s broadband
capacity.
The launch served to erase a failed attempt last July, when a Tokyo missile’s antennas were damaged during a flight from Japan to the space station.
Analysts and spectators keep an unblinking eye on the South China Sea but the East China Sea is hardly less controversial. A group of five tiny uninhabited islands called Senkaku by Tokyo, and Diaoyu by Beijing, have caused political tensions between the neighbor nations to boil. Taiwan claims the islands, too. For Beijing, establishing ownership of Diaoyu/Senkaku is ‘critical’ to forming a cordon sanitaire that marks China’s maritime boundaries, a recent article in The Diplomat noted. Further, Tokyo and Beijing claim exclusive but overlapping economic rights to the same gas fields.
In December 2016, Beijing sent its aircraft carrier, escorted by several warships, on a ‘routine’ mission, prompting Japan to scramble multiple jets to monitor Chinese naval activity. Still, analysts maintain that the Liaoning, China’s only aircraft carrier, remains years away from possessing the same capabilities US carriers have made routine for decades, Sputnik reported. In the final three quarters of 2016, Japan has scrambled jets to patrol approaching Chinese military aircraft 644 times.
The launch served to erase a failed attempt last July, when a Tokyo missile’s antennas were damaged during a flight from Japan to the space station.
Analysts and spectators keep an unblinking eye on the South China Sea but the East China Sea is hardly less controversial. A group of five tiny uninhabited islands called Senkaku by Tokyo, and Diaoyu by Beijing, have caused political tensions between the neighbor nations to boil. Taiwan claims the islands, too. For Beijing, establishing ownership of Diaoyu/Senkaku is ‘critical’ to forming a cordon sanitaire that marks China’s maritime boundaries, a recent article in The Diplomat noted. Further, Tokyo and Beijing claim exclusive but overlapping economic rights to the same gas fields.
In December 2016, Beijing sent its aircraft carrier, escorted by several warships, on a ‘routine’ mission, prompting Japan to scramble multiple jets to monitor Chinese naval activity. Still, analysts maintain that the Liaoning, China’s only aircraft carrier, remains years away from possessing the same capabilities US carriers have made routine for decades, Sputnik reported. In the final three quarters of 2016, Japan has scrambled jets to patrol approaching Chinese military aircraft 644 times.
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REUTERS/ US Marine Corps/Lance Cpl. Remington Hall/Handout
While Japan claims to hold an anti-war foreign
policy, the launch of a satellite with military communications
capabilities challenges this notion. In December 2016, Japan received
its first Lockheed Martin F-35B,
a substantial upgrade from the 1970s-era Mitsubishi F-4J aircraft. The
Japanese Air Self-Defense Force is slated to add 27 more of the
fifth-generation jets to its arsenal over the next half-decade.