Japan's Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi. Photo / Kazuhiro Nogi, Pool, AFP
Tokyo said it summoned Beijing’s ambassador after Chinese military aircraft locked radar onto Japanese jets, as relations worsen further following Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments about Taiwan.
Takaichi suggested last month that Japan would intervene militarily in any Chinese attack on Taiwan, the self-ruled island that Beijing claims as its own and which it has not ruled out seizing by force.
J-15 jets from China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier twice locked radar on Japanese aircraft at the weekend in international waters near Okinawa, according to Japan. No damage or injury was caused.
Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said the incident was “dangerous and extremely regrettable”, adding that Japan had lodged “a strong protest” with China.
Fighter jets use their radar for fire control to identify targets as well as for search and rescue operations.
China’s Navy said Tokyo’s claim was “completely inconsistent with the facts” and told Japan to “immediately stop slandering and smearing”.
Vice-Foreign Minister Funakoshi Takehiro summoned ambassador Wu Jianghao and “made a strong protest that such dangerous acts are extremely regrettable”.
Funakoshi “strongly urged the Government of China to ensure that similar actions do not recur,” the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.
Takaichi said that Japan would “respond calmly and resolutely”.
“While closely monitoring the movements of the Chinese military in the sea and airspace surrounding our country, we will ensure thorough vigilance and surveillance activities in the surrounding sea and airspace,” she said.
Beijing’s Foreign Ministry said it rejected that protest, and had lodged its own counter-protest, according to state news agency Xinhua.
A Foreign Ministry spokesperson, cited by Xinhua, urged Japan to “immediately stop its dangerous moves of harassing China’s normal military exercise and training”.
Last week Japanese and Chinese vessels engaged in a fresh standoff around disputed islands administered by Japan that have long been a flashpoint.
Japan’s coast guard said two Chinese coast guard patrol ships entered Japan’s territorial waters around the Senkaku Islands, known as the Diaoyu in China, and demanded they leave.
China’s coast guard said a Japanese fishing vessel “illegally entered China’s territorial waters” and that its vessels took “necessary control measures and made warnings to drive it away”.
The comments on November 7 about Taiwan by Takaichi, who was seen before she became PM in October as a China hawk, have enraged Beijing.
China has urged its citizens to avoid Japan - they are the biggest source of tourists - and cultural events involving Japanese performers and movies have been hit.
Aside from reportedly renewing a ban on Japanese seafood imports, China has, however, so far stopped short of imposing more serious economic measures such as curbing exports of rare earth metals.
But the Yomiuri Shimbun daily reported that China’s export permit procedures for rare earths - key ingredients for smartphones and electric vehicles - to Japanese companies were taking longer than usual.
Tokyo is deepening co-operation with United States allies in the Asia-Pacific region, where several countries have territorial disputes with China.
Beijing, for instance, claims nearly all of the South China Sea, and has been asserting control more strongly in parts of the strategic waterway despite an international ruling that its claim has no legal basis.
The incident at the weekend came as Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles was visiting Japan.
Marles said he was “deeply concerned by the actions of China in the last 24 hours”, following a meeting with his Japanese counterpart.
He said Canberra had “stabilised” its relationship with China by “acting in a clear, consistent, calm and sensible way”.
“We will seek to work together with China where we can, but we will disagree where we must,” he said in response to a question about supply chains.
Marles also visited Mitsubishi’s shipyard in Nagasaki, months after Canberra signed a major US$6 billion deal to buy 11 advanced warships from the Japanese firm.
-Agence France-Presse