After a Y-9 surveillance plane “violated the territorial airspace” of the Danjo Islands for almost two minutes on Monday at 11:29 local time (02:29 GMT), Japan launched fighter fighters.
The breach was deemed “utterly unacceptable” by Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary, who also summoned a Chinese embassy official to Tokyo in protest.
The event occurs at a time when tensions are rising in the area as China challenges the US and its allies, particularly Japan, for influence.
According to Japanese station NHK, during Monday’s intrusion, Japanese authorities sent “notifications and warnings” to the Chinese aircraft, but no weapons, including flare guns, were utilized.
Still, the episode has raised questions.
The Japanese government announced that it had strongly protested the trespass and demanded that such breaches not happen again by contacting Beijing through diplomatic channels. Beijing has not responded in a formal manner.
Tokyo has also recently reported the presence of Chinese ships in the East China Sea’s Senkaku Islands, which Beijing refers to as the Diaoyus and which China claims.
One of the many points of contention between Beijing and its neighbors, the majority of whom are US allies, are the uninhabited islands that may have oil and gas riches.
