Chinese fighter jets allegedly flew dangerously close to Japanese surveillance aircraft over the East China Sea twice this week, prompting Tokyo to issue a formal diplomatic protest and express “serious concerns” about the risk of accidental collisions.
According to Japan’s defence ministry, the two incidents involved Chinese JH-7 fighter-bombers making “unusual approaches” to Japan Air Self-Defence Force YS-11EB electronic intelligence planes during routine missions in international airspace on Wednesday and Thursday, according to a report in Japan Times.
In both cases, the Chinese jets came as close as 30 metres to the Japanese aircraft, raising alarm in Tokyo over what officials called increasingly provocative behaviour by Beijing.
The first encounter occurred on Wednesday morning, when a Chinese jet flew within 30m laterally of the ASDF plane. The following day, a second close pass was recorded, with the fighter jet closing the distance vertically, again to just 30m.
Tokyo said the aircraft remained in dangerously close proximity for prolonged periods — up to 15 minutes on Wednesday and around 10 minutes on Thursday, according to Bloomberg.
The Japanese defence ministry has described the actions as “abnormal” and said they posed a real danger of mid-air collision.
“Such unusual approaches by Chinese military aircraft pose a potential risk of accidental collision and have raised serious concerns,” the ministry said in a statement.
No damage was reported, but the Japanese foreign ministry said vice foreign minister Takehiro Funakoshi summoned Chinese ambassador Wu Jianghao to lodge a formal protest and demand a halt to such manoeuvres, according to Associated Press.
In early June, Chinese J-15 jets operating from the Shandong aircraft carrier also flew very close to Japanese P-3C maritime patrol aircraft over the Pacific Ocean, around 45 metres away at one point, and even crossed directly in front of one aircraft at a distance of just 900 metres, a move that could easily have resulted in a high-speed collision.
Chinese military aircraft and coastguard ships have intensified operations near the Senkakus in recent months, and both of China’s aircraft carriers were spotted conducting joint exercises in the Pacific for the first time last month, a move viewed by Japanese officials as a further expansion of Chinese naval capabilities.
China has not made a statement on this week’s events, but in the past has accused Japan of conducting surveillance activities close to its military operations and claimed the right to defend its interests.
