Tokyo expressed grave concerns on Tuesday about a Chinese military aircraft’s intrusion into Japanese airspace over the East China Sea on Monday, describing it as a “serious violation of Japanese sovereignty.”
Yoshihisa Hayashi, the Japanese government spokesperson, told reporters, “The encroachment of a Chinese military aircraft into our airspace is not only a serious violation of our sovereignty but also poses a threat to our security, and is absolutely unacceptable.”
The Chinese Foreign Ministry, in a statement, mentioned that it is investigating the reported airspace violation by a Chinese military aircraft.
Tokyo had declared that a Chinese aircraft breached the territorial airspace near the Danjo Islands in the Nagasaki area between 11:29 and 11:31 AM approximately on Monday, prompting Japan to scramble fighter jets urgently.
The incident involved a Y-9 reconnaissance aircraft entering Japanese airspace at 11:29 AM (2:29 GMT) for about two minutes.
Following this, Masataka Okano, the Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister, summoned the Chinese embassy’s acting ambassador in Tokyo on Monday evening to convey a strong protest and demanded that Beijing take measures to prevent such incidents in the future.
Although this marks the first “violation” of airspace by a Chinese military aircraft, Japan has previously reported only two similar incidents: one in 2012 involving a helicopter and another in 2017 involving a small drone, both launched from a Chinese coast guard vessel near the Senkaku Islands.
These islands, controlled by Japan in the East China Sea and claimed by China, where they are known as Diaoyu, continue to be a point of contention between the two nations.
