China says it has ‘no intention’ of breaching any nation’s airspace after Japan claim

Beijing has ‘maintained communication’ with Tokyo after it said a Chinese reconnaissance plane made an ‘utterly unacceptable’ incursion on Monday

China-Japan relations

Cyril Ip

Published: 7:23pm, 27 Aug 2024

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China says it has spoken with Japan and has “no intention” of violating any airspace after Tokyo claimed a People’s Liberation Army reconnaissance plane had made an “utterly unacceptable” incursion.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters in Beijing on Tuesday that the two sides had “maintained communication through existing working channels”.

“I’d like to stress that China has no intention of breaching any country’s airspace,” Lin said.

It came after Japan on Monday said a Chinese military Y-9 reconnaissance plane had entered its airspace off the Danjo Islands – an uninhabited archipelago about 160km (100 miles) to the southwest of Nagasaki on the southern island of Kyushu.

The Japanese defence ministry alleged the PLA aircraft had crossed into the East China Sea islands’ territorial airspace – which extends 12 nautical miles from their coast – for about two minutes. It said fighter jets were scrambled in response, but there was no confrontation between the two sides.

Japan’s chief government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi called it a “serious violation” of Japanese sovereignty and a threat to its security, and said it was “the first confirmed and announced airspace incursion by a Chinese military aircraft”.

“We refrain from giving a definite answer as to the intended purpose of the Chinese aircraft’s action. However, China’s recent military activities near Japan have a tendency to expand and become increasingly active,” he said.

The Japanese foreign ministry said it had summoned acting Chinese ambassador Shi Yong “to protest extremely severely and strongly request the prevention of a recurrence”.

The fresh escalation in tensions between the two Asian neighbours came a day after talks between their top Asian affairs officials, Liu Jinsong and Hiroyuki Namazu, during which Beijing repeated its “solemn position” on Taiwan, maritime issues and historical accounts.

“Both sides had an exchange of views on China-Japan relations and issues of mutual interest and concern,” according to a statement from the Chinese foreign ministry.

01:19

Operator of Japan's Fukushima nuclear plant halts preparations to remove radioactive debris

It said they “mainly had an in-depth and constructive communication on properly handling the discharge of Fukushima nuclear-contaminated water into the sea”.

Japan reportedly completed an eighth release of treated radioactive waste water into the Pacific Ocean on Sunday, a year after the clean-up process began at the Fukushima plant that was hit by an earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Three more discharges are expected to follow between now and March next year.