AFP-JIJI
The Air Self-Defense Force scrambled jets Sunday after three Chinese planes approached Japanese airspace, defense officials said.
The ASDF response was prompted by a Chinese Y-8 surveillance plane and two H-6 bombers that were flying in international airspace over the East China Sea between southern Japanese islands. The Chinese planes entered skies over the Pacific Ocean before heading back toward China along the same route Sunday morning, a spokesman for the Defense Ministry’s Joint Staff said.
“They flew above public seas, and there was no violation of our airspace,” he said, declining to release more details about the response.
Japan, China and Taiwan are locked in a territorial row over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, which China calls Diaoyu and Taiwan calls Tiaoyutai. The uninhabited islands have long been administered by Japan.
Chinese ships and planes have been shadowing the disputed islands since Japan nationalized them in September 2012. The Chinese sometimes enter Japan’s 12 nautical-mile territorial zone.
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- Japan scrambles jets against Chinese plane (nst.com.my)
- Japan scrambles jets against Chinese plane (newsinfo.inquirer.net)
Categories: Escalation / Destabilization Conflict
Engineering Evil 