It seems that China and Japan may very well be on the brink of full-out war. China has been repeatedly sending surveillance aircrafts into disputed airspace with Japan, in response Tokyo has sent out F-15s; now we have just found out that China is now sending its own F-15s on “routine flights” into the East China Sea.

Here is an excerpt from China Daily:

“A Foreign Ministry spokesman said Friday that Chinese military planes were on ‘routine flights’ in relevant airspace over the East China Sea.

Spokesman Hong Lei made the remarks at a press briefing in response to media reports that Japan sent fighter jets to head off a number of Chinese military planes spotted in Japan’s ‘air defense identification zone’ over the East China Sea on Thursday. ‘China firmly opposes Japan’s moves to gratuitously escalate the situation and create tensions,’ Hong said.”

The area of debate is known as the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, or as the Chinese will call it, the Diaoyu Islands. Both countries believe that the area houses billions of dollars in gas and oil deposits, and both lay claim to said deposits.

In response to China deploying its own fighter planes, Japan is considering allowing their F-15 pilots to fire tracer bullet warning shots against the Chinese planes. The Global Times in China are calling this “a step closer to war,” and warning that war is “more likely”. They believe that people should prepare “for the worst”.

The U.S. is taking no official position, but it is expected to honor its US-Japan security treatment signed back in the year 1960.

While the agreement states that the US is to come to Japan’s defense if it were to be under attack, some think it ludicrous and unlikely that the US would risk starting a third world war over a few measly islands- regardless of how much oil lay beneath them. Although, people have started wars over less.

Paul Hudson | Elite.