A Chinese military aircraft was confirmed for the first time to have violated Japanese territorial airspace on Monday morning, the Defense Ministry in Tokyo said, with Japan strongly protesting the move.
The Defense Ministry said one of the Chinese military’s Y-9 intelligence-gathering planes had briefly entered Japanese territory near the Danjo Islands off Nagasaki Prefecture from around 11:29 a.m. to 11:31 a.m., prompting the Air Self-Defense Force to scramble fighter jets in response.
At around 5:20 p.m., Japan’s vice minister for foreign affairs, Masataka Okano, summoned the charge d’affaires of the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo to the Foreign Ministry to deliver a solemn protest and “strongly request” that the Chinese side prevent any recurrence, the ministry said in a statement.
In response, the Chinese side said that it “would report the matter to their home country.”
China routinely sends military aircraft into international airspace above the East China Sea, but this is the first instance of a territorial airspace violation to be publicly confirmed by Japan.
Observers say the moves are intended to probe Japan’s response time and erode the capabilities of its fighter jets.