Japan has said the violation of its airspace by a Chinese military spy plane was “utterly unacceptable”, a day after the country scrambled jets and summoned a Chinese embassy official in Tokyo in protest.
Speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said the airspace breach – the first by a military aircraft – was “not only a serious violation of Japan’s sovereignty but it also threatens our security”.
Japan’s military said on Monday that a Chinese Y-9 reconnaissance plane had been detected at 11.29am (02:29 GMT) circling above the Danjo Islands off the southwestern coast of Japan’s main southern island of Kyushu for two minutes, and fighter jets had been scrambled to warn the Chinese plane to leave the airspace.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs later said that it had summoned acting Chinese Ambassador Shi Yong to lodge a strong protest over the airspace violation, and demand China take preventive steps to avoid such incidents.
There was no comment from the embassy on the incident. There were no questions on the incursion at Monday’s foreign affairs ministry press conference.
Hayashi said on Tuesday that Tokyo was continuing to monitor Chinese military activity near Japan and was fully prepared for any airspace violation.
According to Japan’s military, it scrambled jets nearly 669 times between April 2023 and March 2024, about 70 percent of the time against Chinese military aircraft, although that did not include airspace violations.
Japanese defence officials are increasingly concerned about military cooperation between the Chinese and Russian air forces as well as China’s increasingly assertive activity around Japanese waters and airspace.
The two countries are involved in a long-running dispute over the Senkaku islands, known in China as the Diaoyu islands.
The uninhabited chain of islands and rocks lies about 190 nautical miles (352km) southwest of Okinawa, and have been controlled by Japan since 1895.
China is also involved in disputes over sovereignty in the South China Sea where it has been increasingly assertive in pressing its expansive claim.
