Japan scrambles jets after China aircraft ‘violates’ airspace

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. 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. There was no immediate official comment from Beijing.
China’s growing economic and military clout in the Asia-Pacific region and its assertiveness in territorial disputes – in particular Taiwan – has alarmed the United States and its allies.
Japan, staunchly pacifist for decades, has ramped up defence spending with US encouragement, moving to acquire “counter-strike” capabilities and easing rules on arms exports.
Tokyo is also providing funding and equipment such as patrol vessels to countries across the region and agreed in July on a deal with the Philippines allowing troop deployments on each other’s soil.
Japan and South Korea have also moved to bury the historical hatchet. Tokyo is also part of the Quad alliance with the US, Australia and India, a grouping seen as a bulwark against Beijing.
Japanese and Chinese vessels have 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.
Tokyo has reported the presence of Chinese coastguard vessels, a naval ship and even a nuclear-powered submarine in the area.
Two non-military aircraft from China – a propeller plane and a small drone – forayed into the Japanese airspace near the Senkaku islands in 2012 and 2017, according to NHK.
The Danjo Islands are a group of small islets located in the East China Sea, off Japan’s southern Nagasaki region.
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.
China said it took “control measures” on Monday against two Philippine Coast Guard ships that had entered waters near the disputed Sabina Shoal in the South China Sea.
Multiple confrontations have taken place in recent days around the shoal, located 140km west of the Philippine island of Palawan and about 1,200km from Hainan island, China’s nearest major landmass.
Both sides have in recent months stationed coast guard vessels near Sabina, where the Philippines fears China is about to build an artificial island.
US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is due to visit Beijing for three days from Tuesday and will meet China’s foreign minister Wang Yi in a bid to manage bilateral tensions ahead of US elections in November.