Chinese military aircraft incurs Japan's airspace: Unprecedented breach
A Chinese military aircraft violated Japanese airspace. This was met with a strong response from the government. "The violation of our airspace by Chinese military aircraft is not only a serious violation of our sovereignty but also a threat to our security and is totally unacceptable," said spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi.
According to the Japanese Ministry of Defence report, a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft Y-9 violated Japanese airspace to the southeast of the Danjo Archipelago in Nagasaki Prefecture. This occurred on Monday at 2:29 AM Greenwich Time (11:29 AM local time).
This event marked the first time in history that a Chinese military aircraft had violated Japanese airspace.
Previous incidents
The broadcaster NHK recalled that in 2012 and 2017, respectively, an aircraft of China's State Oceanic Administration and a Coast Guard drone intruded.
"The government will continue to pay close attention to China's military activities and will take all possible measures to ensure vigilant surveillance and airspace violation measures," said the Japanese government spokesman, emphasizing that the Chinese army's activities near Japan "have a tendency to expand and become increasingly active" as well as becoming more frequent.
Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Masataka Okano summoned the acting Chinese ambassador in Japan and delivered a strong protest, demanding preventive measures to avoid the recurrence of such incidents. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced this in its statement.
Fears of escalation
A senior official of the Japanese Ministry of Defence, quoted by NHK, warned that the latest incident might be part of Beijing's broader strategy to threaten Japanese interests at sea and in the air. The official noted that the Chinese navy and coast guard have intruded on Japan's territorial waters in recent years.
