Japanese scrambles jets against mainland China military planes

The Chinese planes were spotted on Japanese military radar north of the Japanese-controlled Senkaku islands, known as the Diaoyus in China, the Fuji TV network reported, quoting Japanese government officials.

They did not violate territorial airspace over the islands but flew inside Japan's so-called air defense identification zone, the report said.

The Japanese defense ministry press office did not confirm the report.

The Chinese planes were gone when F-15 jet fighters from an airbase on Japan's main Okinawan island reached the area, the report said, adding the Chinese flights continued until about 5 p.m. (0800 GMT).

Chinese government ships and planes have been seen off the disputed islands numerous times since Japan nationalized them in September, sometimes within the 12 nautical-mile territorial zone.

The coastguard said Thursday evening they were not aware of any Chinese military aircraft in the area.

On Wednesday the conservative Sankei Shimbun reported that the number of Chinese military planes nearing Japanese territory had increased since Japan nationalized the islands.

The paper said Japan's air force had scrambled fighter jets to intercept Chinese military aircraft numerous times over the past few months. Defense officials said they could not confirm the report.

F-15s were sent airborne to head off Chinese state-owned — but not military — planes four times in December, including an occasion when Japanese airspace was breached, the defense ministry has said.

They were also mobilized once last week, it said.

SHARE CLOSE
Blogger		Google+
Live Journal		Plurk
Stumble Upon

Tweet

	PREVIOUS ARTICLE
	Pakistan says soldier killed amid worsening violence in Kashmir

NEXT ARTICLE
Japan, South Korea meet in patch-up bid

Write a Comment

Terms

Enter your comments - 3000 characters max

Type in image code

 Receive China Post promos
 Respond to this email

Submit