Watching closely: Japan responds to China’s large-scale fighter jet flight near Okinawa
According to the Japanese Defence Ministry, it was the first passage through the Miyako strait by Chinese fighters, although Chinese military spy planes had flown over the area in the past
Japan will remain vigilant and “watch closely” the movements of China’s military after Chinese fighter jets flew over a strait separating islands in Okinawa Prefecture on Sunday, according to the government’s top spokesman.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a press conference Monday that although the aircraft never violated Japan’s airspace, Tokyo “will continue to devote every effort to vigilance and surveillance and rigorously enforce steps against intrusions into our airspace based on international law and the Self-Defence Forces law.”
Japan scrambled fighters from its Air Self-Defence Force in response to the flight of eight Chinese aircraft, believed to include two fighters, in international airspace over the more than 250 kilometre-wide strait between Okinawa’s main island and Miyako Island on Sunday morning.
According to the Japanese Defence Ministry, it was the first passage through the strait by Chinese fighters, although Chinese military spy planes had flown over the area in the past.
China media quoted the Chinese air force Sunday as saying about 40 of its aircraft, including fighters and bombers, had conducted an exercise involving flying through the strait to the western Pacific Ocean, conducting surveillance, patrols and airborne refuelling.