WASHINGTON (Kyodo) A Chinese airplane believed to be for electronic warfare was spotted twice in August over the East China Sea, south of Kyushu and west of the Nansei Islands, sources said Monday.

There has never been confirmation that a Chinese electronic intelligence-gathering plane exists, but the U.S. Defense Department said in its annual report on Chinese military power in July that China "is improving capabilities of its special-mission aircraft, with a focus on electronic warfare."

The sources said details about the aircraft, including the type, were not known, but external features and flight patterns indicated it was probably being used to intercept radio and other electronic transmissions from warships, as well as radar and other military equipment.

The aircraft was flying in Japan's designated air-defense zone and was probably conducting a test of some kind, the sources said.

Tokyo has neither publicly acknowledged a sighting nor revealed if it scrambled fighters to intercept the plane.

Five Chinese naval ships, including a missile destroyer, were spotted on Sept. 9 near the Chunxiao gas field in the East China Sea, where Japan and China have a dispute over their exclusive economic zones.

Observers reckon the sea and air incidents may be related.

In its July report, the Pentagon alleged China is carrying out a military buildup and modernization beyond its interest in seizing Taiwan.

The report says this puts the regional military balance "at risk" and China could become a long-term "credible" threat to Japan and other countries in the area.

The Japan Times: Sept. 14, 2005
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http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getart...n20050914a4.htm

thats awesome

kinda like what the americans are doing huh?

Do we Americans even have to spy?

I think they have to, they don't have telepathy.

And it is fair to say that US spy technology on whatever fronts has always been the pinnacle of such fields. Spysat, AWACS, high altitude spy planes... the impressive list goes on.

No atomic bomb? No need to be afraid

Why do you act so surprised? Every nation on this plannet have some sort of information gathering tools at its disposal.

of course - to check out how asia is going.

The Spy Planes are used to check out chicks on the beach.

only if the spy planes are in your hands.

They'd best not be takin' pictures of my hos.



Get off mah grill.

They should destroy the next one if possible.

Keep talking Ogumo. We both know what this is about....

Oh really? Why don't you educate me? To me it's about japan's sovereignty.

Is it really? Or is it just an attempt on your part to rekindle some kind of a rivalry between the two countries.

The rivalry already exists. To me it's simply about putting a stop to these chinese incursions.

I do agree the chinese planes need to stop flying over restricted air zones that belong to japan. But it seems to me we both agree that this rivarly will always exist between our two respective countries.

Indeed we do comrade.

Well then in this case may the best country win!