Japan scrambles plane over suspected China drone close to Taiwan

Japan stated on Tuesday (November 25, 2025) it scrambled plane after detecting a suspected Chinese language drone off an island close to Taiwan that has been drawn right into a weeks-long diplomatic spat between Tokyo and Beijing.

The drone was noticed off Japan’s Yonaguni, an island the place Tokyo is planning to deploy missiles in a transfer that has angered Beijing.

“We confirmed that an unmanned aerial car believed to be Chinese language, handed between Yonaguni Island and Taiwan on Monday,” Japan’s Defence Ministry stated on X.

The regional Japan Air Self-Protection Forces “scrambled plane” in response, it stated.

Beijing-Tokyo relations have soured this month, following remarks by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggesting that Tokyo might intervene militarily in any assault on Taiwan.

The row escalated once more on Monday (November 24, 2025) when China slammed Japan’s determination to push forward with the deliberate deployment of missiles on Yonaguni following a go to to the island by Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi.

China’s International Ministry stated the plan was a “deliberate try to create regional stress and provoke army confrontation”.

Mr. Koizumi pushed again on Tuesday (November 25, 2025), saying “the medium-range surface-to-air guided missiles deliberate for deployment are defensive tools meant to counter plane and missiles invading our nation”.

“They aren’t meant to assault different international locations, are deployed all through Japan, and clearly don’t heighten regional tensions,” he advised reporters.

Since 2016, the island of Yonaguni has hosted a base for Japan’s Military, the Self-Defence Forces, which was established regardless of preliminary objections from residents.

Tokyo had beforehand introduced plans to deploy the Sort 03 Medium-Vary Floor-to-Air Guided Missile to defend the island in opposition to incoming air-to-ground missiles and plane.

China claims democratic Taiwan as a part of its territory and has threatened to make use of pressure to convey the self-ruled island beneath its management.

Taiwan on Monday (November 24, 2025) stated that Japan’s strengthening of army amenities on Yonaguni “helps preserve safety within the Taiwan Strait”.