China reveals radio communications heard before mid-air stand-off with Japanese fighters
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said radar activation is ‘standard practice’ for flight safety.
China has released more details about a mid-air stand-off between Chinese and Japanese fighter jets that occurred on December 6, 2025. The incident, in which Japan’s Defence Ministry claimed the Chinese ship-based J-15 fighters from aircraft carrier Liaoning had locked fire-control radars on Japan’s F-15 jets in international airspace near Okinawa, has further raised tensions between the two nations. An audio recording, purportedly of the radio communication between the two navies before the Liaoning began its flight exercises that day, was also published on December 9 by Yuyuantantian, a social media account run by state broadcaster CCTV.