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Why does the PLA object to Japan’s drone plans for its southern islands?
Tokyo says it’s building a coastal defence system but Beijing sees an offensive purpose in the deployment
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William ZhengPublished: 8:17pm, 17 May 2026
The People’s Liberation Army has accused Japan of taking a “dangerous gamble” with its plan to deploy satellite-aided drones to its southwestern islands near Taiwan.
In a commentary on Sunday, the PLA Daily, the mouthpiece of the Chinese military, said that while Tokyo maintained that it was building a multilayered coastal defence system, the equipment had a “distinct offensive nature”.
“While called a ‘shield’, it is in reality a ‘spear’,” it said.
AdvertisementJapan’s Self-Defence Force plans to acquire drones with a range over 1,000km (620 miles), which could be combined with Type 25 surface-to-ship missiles and Tomahawk cruise missiles.The Type 25 is a long-range, domestically developed stand-off weapon operated by the Ground Self-Defence Force (SDF). It has an extended range of up to 1,500km, allowing Japan to strike maritime and land-based targets across the East China Sea from its territory.Advertisement
Japan is actively equipping its naval fleet with US-made Tomahawk cruise missiles to bolster its long-range counterstrike capabilities. The country plans to 400 Tomahawks with a range of roughly 1,600km, allowing it to hit targets deep inland without exposing vessels to close-range enemy fire.
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