Republic World:

Washington and Tokyo have set up a new team called US-Japan Bilateral Intelligence Analysis Cell to analyse information about Chinese military activities in the east China sea. The US and Japan will be relying on their military assets to collect the information that will be then analysed in Yokota Air Base, which is located in the suburbs of Japan. The military assets that will be used to collect information include US military’s MQ-9 Reaper reconnaissance drones, according to a report from Mainichi, a Japanese newspaper.

The MQ-9 Reaper reconnaissance drones are operating out of the Kanoya air base, which is located in the southwestern prefecture of Kagoshima. They were deployed in November. According to the Mainichi report, America’s MQ-9 deployment reflects Washington’s desire to increase surveillance near the Nansei island chain. The Nansei island chain includes the Senkaku islands, which is a source of tension between Japan and China.

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