TOKYO, Dec 7 (Reuters) – Chinese fighter jets directed fire-control radar at Japanese military aircraft near Japan’s Okinawa islands in two incidents, Japan’s defence minister said on Sunday, condemning the move as “dangerous”.
“These radar illuminations went beyond what is necessary for the safe flight of aircraft,” Shinjiro Koizumi posted on X, adding that Japan had lodged a protest with China over Saturday’s “regrettable” incident.
Meeting with Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles in Tokyo, Koizumi said Japan would respond “resolutely and calmly” to China’s conduct to maintain regional peace and stability.
A fire-control radar lock is one of the most threatening acts a military aircraft can take because it signals a potential attack, forcing the targeted aircraft to take evasive action.
JAPAN-CHINA RELATIONS HAVE SOURED, TENSIONS OVER TAIWAN
The encounters near islands close to territory claimed by both Japan and China are the most serious run-ins between the two militaries in years and are likely to further escalate tension between the neighbours.
Relations have already soured after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi warned that Japan could respond to any Chinese military action against Taiwan if it also threatened Japan’s security.
China claims democratically governed Taiwan and has ramped up military and political pressure against the island, whose government rejects Beijing’s territorial claims. Taiwan lies just 110 km (70 miles) from Japan’s westernmost island, Yonaguni.
Calls to China’s defence ministry on Sunday were not answered.
Japan hosts the biggest overseas concentration of U.S. military power, including warships, aircraft and troops, with much of that contingent, including thousands of U.S. Marines, based in Okinawa.
The U.S. State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Japan’s claims about China’s use of radar.
Japan said the Chinese J-15 jets involved in the two incidents were launched from China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier, which was manoeuvring south of the Okinawan islands with three missile destroyers.
In 2013, Japan said a Chinese warship locked its radar on one of its destroyers in the East China Sea. Three years later Beijing accused Japanese jets of directing their fire-control radar on Chinese fighters.
In June, Japan said Chinese jets flew dangerously close to one of its patrol aircraft near Okinawa.
CHINESE NAVAL ACTIVITIES
On Thursday, China was deploying a large number of naval and coast guard ships across East Asian waters, which at one point numbered more than 100, Reuters reported, citing sources and intelligence reports.
Taiwan’s government described that build-up as posing a threat to the Indo-Pacific region. Japan said it was monitoring Chinese activity closely.
On Sunday, Taiwan’s coast guard said it was monitoring drills by three Chinese maritime safety ships on the western side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, but said the situation in the waters surrounding Taiwan was currently “normal”.
Chinese state media said the search-and-rescue drills were in the central waters of the strait, patrolling “high-traffic areas, and areas with frequent accidents”.
Taiwan’s coast guard said China was using “misleading and false wording” about what it was doing, with the aim of harassing Taiwan and carrying out psychological warfare.
China says it alone exercises sovereignty and jurisdiction over the strait, a major trade route for about half of global container ships. The United States and Taiwan say the strait is an international waterway.
(Reporting by Tim Kelly, Nobuhiro Kubo and Kiyoshi Takenaka in Tokyo; Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard in Taipei and Ahmed Aboulenein in Washington; Editing by Diane Craft and William Mallard)
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