Japan sends interceptor aircraft following a strike aircraft from China intruding what the defense ministry termed the country’s airspace on Monday.
A Chinese aircraft was “confirmed to have intruded into the country’s territorial airspace off the Danjo Islands in Nagasaki Prefecture,” the ministry said in a statement and said it had scrambled “fighter jets on alert.”
The “Y-9 intelligence-gathering’ aircraft flew into Japanese airspace at 11:29 am (0229 GMT) for approximately two minutes, the ministry said.
Japanese local media, including the public broadcaster NHK, said that was the first time Chinese military aircraft had entered the Japanese airspace.
Chinese and Japanese naval boats have earlier been involved in verbal clashes in parts of the sea and especially over the Senkaku islands in the East China Sea, which the Chinese refer to as the Diaoyus.
The remote chain of islands has raised diplomatic disputes and has been a center for aggression between Japanese coastguard boats and Chinese fishing boats.
Recently, Beijing has become more aggressive over the islands, as Tokyo has stated that it has found Chinese coast guard ships, naval ships, and even nuclear-powered submarines in the disputed region.
(This story has not been modified by News18 staff and is only sourced from a syndicated news agency feed-AFP.)
