China installs mock targets resembling Japan's warplanes at desert firing range

The Chinese military has installed mock targets resembling key Japan Air Self-Defense Force aircraft at a shooting and demolition range in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, satellite imagery analysis has revealed.

According to the Sankei Shimbun on Sunday, Japan's Institute for National Fundamentals analyzed satellite photos and found that the Chinese military had set up mock targets of three types of Air Self-Defense Force aircraft at the Lop Nor firing range in Xinjiang in January.

The three aircraft types are the E-767 airborne warning and control system (AWACS), the F-35 advanced stealth fighter and the F-2 fighter jet.

The Chinese military had previously conducted repeated training exercises at the Lop Nor range using mock targets of the E-767, but the addition of the F-35 and F-2 represents an expansion of those drills, Sankei reported.

The Institute for National Fundamentals said the mock targets based on the Air Self-Defense Force's key aircraft serve not only as live combat training for Chinese forces, but also appear intended — given that the targets are visible in satellite imagery — as a warning to Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government.

Some analysts say the move is a pressure message directed at the Japanese government amid deteriorating Sino-Japanese relations following Takaichi's remarks last November suggesting Japan could intervene in a Taiwan contingency.

"Since 2023, targets at Chinese test sites aimed specifically at the Self-Defense Forces had not been seen for some time, but the activity since last November may have been triggered by the launch of the Takaichi administration," said Maki Nakagawa, a researcher at the Institute for National Fundamentals.