Japan, China trade barbs after Chinese fighters flew close to Japanese patrol planes

TOKYO – Beijing condemned on June 12 what it called “dangerous behaviour” by a Japanese military plane over the Pacific after Tokyo said Chinese fighter jets flew unusually close to its aircraft at the weekend.

The Japanese government had complained to China over the incidents, in which no Japanese military personnel were reported injured.

A Chinese J-15 fighter jet from the Shandong aircraft carrier followed a Japanese P-3C patrol plane for 40 minutes on June 7, according to the Japanese Defence Ministry.

Two J-15 jets then did the same for 80 minutes on June 8.

“During these long periods, the jets flew unusually close to the P-3C, and they flew within 45 metres” of the patrol plane on both days, an official from the Japanese ministry told AFP.

Also on June 8, Chinese jets cut across airspace around 900m ahead of a P-3C Japanese patrol plane at the same altitude – a distance a P-3C can reach within a few seconds at cruising speed, Tokyo said.

“We do not believe that this approach was made by mistake,” the Japanese military’s chief of staff Yoshihide Yoshida told reporters on June 12.

“Given it happened for 40 minutes and 80 minutes, for two days in a row, our understanding is that it was done on purpose,” he said.

“We have expressed serious concern to the Chinese side and solemnly requested prevention of recurrence,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said on June 12.

Beijing’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian hit back at the Japanese description of the events.

“The root cause of the risk to maritime and air security was the close reconnaissance of China’s normal military activities by a Japanese warplane,” he said.

“The Chinese side urges the Japanese side to stop this kind of dangerous behaviour.”

The P-3C aircraft, belonging to Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Force based on the island of Okinawa, were conducting surveillance over international waters in the Pacific, according to Japan’s Defence Ministry.

“Such abnormal approaches by Chinese military aircraft could potentially cause accidental collisions,” the ministry said in a statement on June 11, attaching close-up images of the J-15 jet it took on June 8.

There was no damage to the Japanese planes and crew, it added.

Mr Hayashi, the top Japanese government spokesman, told a regular briefing that Tokyo will maintain communications with Beijing at various levels and ensure the monitoring of airspace around its territories.

Earlier this week, Tokyo said the

Shandong and another Chinese carrier the Liaoning

were conducting simultaneous operations in the Pacific for the first time, describing it as a move signifying Beijing’s intention to further widen its capabilities beyond its borders.

Beijing has said the operations were a “routine training” exercise that did not target specific countries.

In 2014, Tokyo said that it spotted Chinese military aircraft flying as close as 30m to its military aircraft over the East China Sea, and protested to Beijing. AFP, REUTERS