Japan accuses China of violating airspace for the first time

Japan said on Monday that a Chinese military aircraft had violated its airspace. Local media reported it was the first such move by a Chinese aircraft.

Japan’s Defence Ministry said at 11.29am on Monday a Y-9 surveillance aircraft “violated territorial airspace near the Danjo Islands in Nagasaki Prefecture” in the East China Sea and flew for two minutes. This prompted Japan to “deploy fighter jets on an emergency basis”, the Kyodo news outlet reported.

State media said the latest development could escalate tensions between the two countries following repeated maritime provocations by China in the region.

The plane circled southeast of the islands several times before and after entering Japanese airspace, and finally headed toward China at about 1:15 a.m. The Japanese Defense Ministry said the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force (ASDF) fighter jets did not use weapons or signal flares.

Japan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Masataka Okano summoned China’s acting ambassador late Monday to lodge “very serious protests” and call for measures to prevent a recurrence of such incidents, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

There have been previous intrusions by non-military aircraft, including when a propeller-driven Chinese maritime surveillance plane and a small drone flying from a Chinese coast guard ship entered the airspace near the disputed Senkaku islands in 2012 and 2017, according to Japanese public broadcaster NHK.

Kyodo news agency quoted a Japanese Defence Ministry source as saying China was “possibly trying to provoke a reaction from Japan”, while a government source said the plane had only flown through territorial airspace and had possibly gone off course.

China’s increasingly aggressive activities in the region, particularly with regard to Taiwan, are causing concern for the US and its allies.

Japan is part of the Quad alliance along with India, Australia and the United States, which is seen as a counterweight to Beijing’s aggression in the Indo-Pacific region.

China claims the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea administered by Japan and there have been clashes between Japanese and Chinese ships. The group of disputed islands, Uotsuri Island, Minamikojima and Kitakojima, are known as Diaoyu in China.

Meanwhile, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan will meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Beijing today.