Japan condemned on Monday an “unprecedented” violation of its airspace by a Chinese military aircraft Y-9 as “totally unacceptable” and an alleged threat to its security.
A Chinese Y-9 reconnaissance plane entered Japanese airspace for two minutes at 11:29 a.m. local time near the Dangyo Islands off the southernmost main island of Kyushu, Japan’s Defence Ministry said.
Deputy Foreign Minister Masataka Okano summoned China’s acting ambassador late Monday night to express “strong protest” and called for action against a repeat, the foreign ministry said in a statement.
In response, the Chinese diplomat said the matter would be reported to Beijing, the ministry said. There has been no official comment from Beijing yet.
A Japanese defence ministry source told Kyodo news agency that China “may be trying to provoke a reaction from Japan,” while an unnamed government official said the plane “just hit” Japanese airspace, possibly going off course.
Japan’s public broadcaster NHK reported that the two previous incursions were carried out by non-military aircraft. In 2012 and 2017, aircraft entered airspace near the disputed Diaoyu Islands.
Chinese vessels regularly enter waters near the Diaoyu Islands, with Japan responding by putting self-defence force aircraft in the air. The uninhabited islands, surrounded by rich fishing grounds and potential oil and gas deposits, are administered by Japan but claimed by China.
Yee Kuang Heng, a professor at the University of Tokyo, said the Y-9 involved in Monday’s incident was “probably exploring Japan’s air defence network, collecting electronic information such as Japanese radar signals and coverage.”
China’s growing economic and military influence in the Asia-Pacific region and its insistence on territorial disputes – particularly with Taiwan – has alarmed the US and its allies.
