Japan scrambles jets after China aircraft ‘violates’ airspace: Ministry

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.
It said steps were taken by the Japan Self-Defense Forces such as “issuing warnings” to the aircraft, but public broadcaster NHK reported that no weapons, such as flare guns, were used as an alert.
According to the defence ministry, this was the first time a Chinese military aircraft had breached Japan’s airspace. The government had lodged a strong protest against Beijing through diplomatic channels, it said.
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.
According to the foreign ministry, the Chinese diplomat said in response that the matter would be reported to Beijing.
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.
In the past, two non-military aircraft from China – a propeller plane and a small drone – were confirmed to have forayed into the Japanese airspace near the Senkaku islands in 2012 and 2017, according to NHK.
Beijing claims the South China Sea – through which trillions of dollars of trade passes annually – almost in its entirety despite an international court ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.
The Danjo Islands are a group of small islets located in the East China Sea, off Japan’s southern Nagasaki region.
Japan in recent years has strengthened security ties with the United States to counter China’s growing assertiveness in the region, boosting defence spending and moving to acquire “counter-strike” capabilities.
At the same time, it has boosted military ties with the Philippines, which has also been involved in recent territorial standoffs, as well as South Korea.