TOKYO: Japan scrambled fighter jets after a Chinese military aircraft “violated” Japanese airspace, the defence ministry said on Monday (Aug 26).
A Chinese aircraft was “confirmed to have violated the territorial airspace off the Danjo Islands in Nagasaki Prefecture”, the ministry said in a statement, adding it had launched “fighter jets on an emergency basis”.
The “Y-9 intelligence-gathering” aircraft entered Japanese airspace at 11.29am for around two minutes, the ministry added.
The ministry said this was the first time a Chinese military aircraft had breached Japan’s airspace, and that the government had lodged a strong protest against Beijing through diplomatic channels.
Separately, the Japanese foreign ministry said Vice Foreign Minister Masataka Okano had summoned a senior official at the Chinese embassy in Tokyo to lodge a protest against the incursion and to strongly demand the prevention of such breaches.
Japanese and Chinese vessels have previously been involved in tense incidents in disputed areas, in particular the Senkaku islands in the East China Sea, known by Beijing as the Diaoyus.
The remote chain of islands has fuelled diplomatic tensions and been the scene of confrontations between Japanese coastguard vessels and Chinese fishing boats.
Beijing has grown more assertive about its claim to the islands in recent years, with Tokyo reporting the presence of Chinese coast guard vessels, a naval ship and even a nuclear-powered submarine.
Source: CNA
