Japan claims Chinese military plane violated its territorial airspace for the first time

Tokyo CNN —

Japan says a Chinese military intelligence-gathering aircraft entered its territorial airspace off remote islands in the East China Sea on Monday, the first time Tokyo has accused the People’s Liberation Army Air Force of an airspace violation and a new irritant in frosty relations between China and Japan.

A map released by the Japanese Defense Ministry showed the Chinese aircraft, a Y-9 reconnaissance plane, flying in a rectangular circuit pattern off the eastern side of the Danjo Islands when it briefly headed west and crossed into the islands’ territorial airspace – which extends 12 nautical miles from the coast of the islands – for about two minutes.

The Japanese Defense Ministry said it scrambled Air Self-Defense Force fighter jets to respond to the alleged intrusion, but no confrontation with the Chinese plane was reported.

Japan’s Foreign Ministry said it summoned Shi Yong, charge d’affairs of the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo, “to protest extremely severely and strongly request the prevention of a recurrence.”

The Japanese military frequently scrambles fighter jets to confront Chinese military planes that approach but have not previously entered its territory, doing so 479 times – more than once a day – in the past fiscal year that ended in April, according to the Defense Ministry.

But the alleged incursion into sovereign airspace brings that tension to a higher level.

“In recent years, China’s military activities in the vicinity of our country have tended to expand and become more and more active,” Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a press conference Tuesday.

“The invasion of our country’s airspace by Chinese military aircraft is not only a serious violation of our