Beijing plays down South Korea’s claims Chinese warplanes breached its air defence zone
Drills were ‘lawful and reasonable … not targeted at any specific country or region’, air force spokesman says
Seoul on Monday accused Beijing of infringing its air defence identification zone after China’s air force conducted a long-range exercise into the Sea of Japan.
South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said five Chinese military aircraft were detected entering its air defence identification zone from southwest of Ieo Island – known as Suyan Islet in China – about 10am on Monday and leaving at 2pm. Seoul described the move as an infringement and scrambled F-15K and KF-16 fighters to monitor the situation.
“Our fighter planes took normal tactical measures, identifying the models of the Chinese planes and flying aerial surveillance until they left,” it said in a statement.
Shen Jinke, a spokesman for China’s air force defended the move, however, saying Chinese H-6K bombers, Su-30 fighter jets and Yun-8 transport aircraft transited through the Tsushima Strait and entered the Sea of Japan as part of a routine operation.
“The drills were lawful and reasonable,” he was quoted as saying in a statement released by China’s defence ministry, adding that they were “not targeted at any specific country or region”.