The intrusion of a Chinese spy plane into Japanese airspace was a “wake-up call” for Tokyo regarding the aggressive nature of the Chinese leadership, US Representative John Moolenaar, chairman of the House Select Committee on China, said on Wednesday.
Monday’s incident, in which a Y-9 reconnaissance plane flew near the southern island of Kyushu, was the first time a Chinese military aircraft had entered Japanese airspace, according to Tokyo, which told Beijing it was “totally unacceptable.”
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that it was still trying to understand the situation.
We have “experienced a very different China in recent years and the question is how best to prevent future aggression and malign activities,” Moolenaar, a Republican in the House of Representatives, said in an interview in Tokyo on Wednesday.
His visit to Japan, where he attended the meeting alongside half a dozen members of a bipartisan committee looking at issues such as China’s exports of fentanyl precursor chemicals and Beijing’s influence on U.S. companies, comes as President Joe Biden’s administration plans to expand restrictions on exports of semiconductor manufacturing equipment.
While Japan is working with its U.S. ally to restrict the supply of such technologies, unlike Washington, it has avoided trade restrictions that directly affect its neighbor and largest trading partner.
A new rule expanding U.S. powers to stop exports of semiconductor manufacturing equipment to China by some foreign chipmakers will exclude Japan, the Netherlands and South Korea, two sources told Reuters last month.
In Japan, Moolenaar met with Trade and Industry Minister Ken Saito, who is responsible for Japan’s technology exports and is currently meeting with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other senior Japanese politicians.
“The question is how best to prevent future (Chinese) aggression and malign activities. We do not want to support a military complex that can be used against us,” Moolenaar said.
