Renewing Japan’s air force

On most days for the past several years, pilots from the Japan Air Self-Defence Force have scrambled to stop military aircraft from China and Russia buzzing Japan’s air space. It is a reminder of how prickly Japan’s ties with its neighbours have become, not least because of contested sovereignty over a few remote islands. Intercepts of Chinese planes almost tripled last year, to 96 (see chart). Russia, meanwhile, recently sent two bombers skirting provocatively around the Japanese archipelago.

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