Japan’s plan to retrofit its 27,000-ton Izumo–class helicopter destroyers into aircraft carriers has Beijing worried. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said the move could in effect change the warships’ use from self-defense to military expansion, rather than a simple boost to their combat capabilities.
The ministry also warned that if Tokyo was bent on military buildup, it could risk putting the recent thaw in relations between the two nations back on ice.
“Making an aggressive move like this may drive the country to repeat its militaristic history,” the nationalist Global Times also warned in its report. Ties between China and Japan had been restored after Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Beijing in October.
The 248-meter Izumo–class helicopter destroyers are now the largest surface combatants of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force since World War II, bearing a strong resemblance to conventional aircraft carriers.
Its lead ship was launched at Yokohama in 2013 with stated key missions including anti-submarine warfare and border-area surveillance as well as the swift deployment of troops and materials for disaster relief.
Two of the vessels – the Izumo and Kaga – have already been in service with two under construction and two planned.
Destroyers of this class can carry a crew of 970 and a maximum of 28 helicopters with armaments including the Raytheon-made Phalanx close-in weapons system against anti-ship missiles and helicopters.
Japan will write the plan into its latest National Defense Program Guidelines at the end of the year, Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya announced at a press conference on Tuesday. The newly installed defense chief also said the retrofitted carriers would carry US-made F-35B stealth fighter jets capable of short takeoffs and vertical landings.
Japan will order 100 more F-35 fighter jets, including both the F-35A and the F-35B, from Lockheed Martin.
Under the war-renouncing Article 9 of its pacifist constitution, Japan cannot possess attack aircraft carriers, as it is only allowed to use force for self-defense.
Japanese military sources confirmed that the possibility of operating fixed-wing aircraft was incorporated into the design of the ships from the earliest stages of the Izumo program. The aircraft elevators and the deck paint were designed to handle aircraft like the F-35B, and it would be possible to add a ski-jump to the flight deck for the fighters’ operations.
Frank Yoe Is that how you answer to a sound argument by spouting racist remarks? Please educate yourself in being a better citizen of humanity.
Frank Yoe Is that how you answer to a sound argument by spouting racist remarks? Please educate yourself in being a better citizen of humanity.
I didn’t know philipinos were so stupid. Can’t make a living so philipinos send their sisters to clean toilets and lie on their backs for their masters.
I didn’t know philipinos were so stupid. Can’t make a living so philipinos send their sisters to clean toilets and lie on their backs for their masters.
Terry Kerr. Why don’t you have a go? New zeala der? Just carry bags for Americans.
Terry Kerr. Why don’t you have a go? New zeala der? Just carry bags for Americans.
And cowardly faceless man
And cowardly faceless man
Billy mania. Another philipino Are you going to leave your sisters to lie on their backs in Saudi and Qatar?
Billy mania. Another philipino Are you going to leave your sisters to lie on their backs in Saudi and Qatar?
Dante de Leon. Who wants to Japan? All Japanese do now is bowing and scraping and kissing American shoes. Just like philipinos.
Dante de Leon. Who wants to Japan? All Japanese do now is bowing and scraping and kissing American shoes. Just like philipinos.
MarioDanilo Del Mar Ballesteros Have you? The only thing philipinos have is a long Spanish name. The other thing you had is a mud hut.
MarioDanilo Del Mar Ballesteros Have you? The only thing philipinos have is a long Spanish name. The other thing you had is a mud hut.
Justin Gimena. Listen philipino it was the Americans your slave masters who wrote japan’s constitution. You should get a job so that you can bring your sisters back from lying in their backs in Saudi and Qatar.
Justin Gimena. Listen philipino it was the Americans your slave masters who wrote japan’s constitution. You should get a job so that you can bring your sisters back from lying in their backs in Saudi and Qatar.
Renan Pasiona Abella. Another philipino who shoots the only thing he can shoot off namely his mouth while his sister a d mother are cleaning toilets in Qatar and Kuwait and lying flat on their backs for their Arab masters.
Renan Pasiona Abella. Another philipino who shoots the only thing he can shoot off namely his mouth while his sister a d mother are cleaning toilets in Qatar and Kuwait and lying flat on their backs for their Arab masters.
Enb Libra Taiwan knows it – even hinted at it a few years ago – bet it is first designated taget if the fascist CCP sends the PLA across the strait.
Frank Yoe 1st of all it is not the UN that declared Japan could not have an army, it was Japan itself that declared that they renounce the rights to declaring war from Japan’s constitution (May 1, 1947). Japan WAS a barbaric and murderous race but focus on the word ‘WAS’. Japan nowadays is considered to have one of the most respected countries in the world.
If anything it is China that shows belligerence and apathy to the UN’s ways. RE: UNCLOS and UN arbitral tribunal regarding the South China Sea.