Doomsday WW3 Rising? China Warns Japan of War if Latter Blasts Down Drone
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's rhetoric of blasting Chinese drones should these cross over the former's boundaries has upped the anxiety levels between two countries. A retired Chinese military commander has warned Japan ought to be prepared executing and defending should its rhetorics escalate to war.
"China has many kinds of countermeasures from low intensity to high intensity," Wang Hongguang, former deputy commander of the Nanjing military region, wrote in the Global Times, as he noted Japan's attack of his country's drones already tantamount to the "first shot" of a war.
He stressed China would retaliate but only in a "minimum response" level.
In September, Japan deployed fighter jets when it spotted an unidentified aerial drone hovering over the islands being claimed by both sides in the East China Sea, known as Diaoyu in Chinese and Senkaku in Japanese.
China's threat came after Japan's Sankei newspaper reported the government is mulling to implement new rules that would legally enable it to shoot down unmanned aircraft entering its airspace.
"China's weight is too big, and its economic strength has surpassed Japan and the gap continues to widen," Mr Wang wrote, in a seeming blatant reminder of China's economic supremacy. "China's military power has advanced by huge strides, each navy may have its strong points and China's overall military strength is far higher than Japan's."
Hua Chunying, spokeswoman of China's Foreign Ministry, has signified the country will be on "high alert" as it continues to assess Japan's true intent.
The minute one of its drones gets shot down, China's Defense Ministry said it will respond decisively, noting they will force into Japan whatever consequences that will arise of such.
They are the ones who started the provocative actions, the ministry said.
"China's air force has more aircraft than Japan, and their quality doesn't lag behind the Japanese ones," Major General Luo Yuan, a vice president of the China Strategic Culture Promotion Association, told the Global Times.