Japan asserts an intrusion by a Chinese military aircraft into its designated airspace, marking a first-time occurrence.
A map released by Japan's Defense Department highlighted the movement of a Chinese military plane, specifically a Y-9 surveillance aircraft, completing a square pattern near the Danjo Islands' eastern border. The plane momentarily deviated westward, entering the territorial airspace of the islands for approximately two minutes.
Japan's Air Self-Defense Force responded to this alleged intrusion by deploying fighter jets, yet no confrontation ensued between the Chinese plane and their Air Force.
The Japanese Foreign Ministry expressed strong discontent and demanded China prevent any future occurrences by summoning the Chinese Embassy's charge d'affaires in Tokyo, Shi Yong.
In the last fiscal year, which concluded in April, the Japanese military had to scramble fighter jets 479 times – an average of over once a day – to challenge approaching Chinese military planes that hadn't previously breached their territory.
However, this breach of sovereign airspace escalated the tension further.
Addressing the press, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi stated: "China's military activities in our vicinity have expanded and grown more active in recent years."
He added emphatically that this intrusion and violation of Japanese airspace was both a severe breach of their sovereignty and a threat to their safety, completely unacceptable.
CNN reached out to Chinese authorities for their perspective on this matter.
The Danjo Islands, Japanese national cultural heritage and wildlife sanctuary, are located in the East China Sea, approximately 100 miles (160 kilometers) southwest of Nagasaki, Kyushu's southern main Japanese island.
Although this was the first documented instance of a Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force plane violating Japanese airspace, two similar incidents occurred in the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands, which China claims as its own territory, dating back earlier in the East China Sea.
In 2012, a Chinese maritime surveillance plane entered the Senkakus' airspace, and in 2017, a drone launched from a China Coast Guard ship did the same, according to the Japanese government.
This week's incident, however, was the first case involving a military plane.
The unoccupied Senkaku Islands chain has been a contentious issue in Japan-China relations for years.
Disputes about these rocky islands, located 1,200 miles (1,900 kilometers) southwest of Tokyo but less than 205 miles (330 kilometers) from China's east coast, date back centuries. Neither nation is expected to yield territorial claims considered imperative to national identity within their capitals.
Tensions escalated in 2012, following Japan's purchase of several islands from a private Japanese owner, which China perceived as a direct challenge to its territorial claims.
Since then, China has regularly dispatched Coast Guard and other government vessels to the Senkaku waters to assert those claims, maintaining a presence near the islands for a record 158 consecutive days earlier this year, according to the Japanese government.
Any disagreement between Japan and China in the Senkakus carries the risk of escalating into a larger conflict, cautioned analysts, as Japan is obliged under its mutual defense treaty with the United States to consider the Senkakus covered by the agreement.
The United States has repeatedly stated its view that the Senkakus are covered by the alliance.
The Japanese Foreign Ministry expressed concern to China over this incident, urging them to prevent similar violations in the future, specifically referring to the Danjo Islands located in the East China Sea. Japan's defense against Chinese intrusions has significantly increased, with their military scrambling fighter jets an average of once a day last fiscal year, due to activities in Asia.
