Tokyo
AP
–
Japan and China are accusing each other of violating the Japan-controlled airspace around the East China Sea Island, which Beijing claims.
The latest territorial flaps were born because both appeared to have a warm connection while trying to alleviate damage from the US tariff war.
Japan’s Foreign Ministry said it submitted a “very harsh protest” with Beijing after a Chinese helicopter took off from one of China’s four coast guard boats. The helicopter violated Japan’s airspace for about 15 minutes on Saturday, the ministry said.
The statement called the incident “an invasion of Japanese territorial airspace” and urged the Chinese government to ensure precautions.
According to the Ministry of Defense, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces responded by scrambling fighter jets that had scrambled them.
China also protested Tokyo on a Japanese civil aircraft violating the airspace around the island, saying it was “strongly dissatisfied” about Japan’s “serious violation of China’s sovereignty,” according to a statement from Japan’s Chinese embassy on Saturday.
The Chinese Coast Guard said it “supposedly took necessary control measures in accordance with the law,” and sent ship-mediated helicopters to warn and drive Japanese aircraft away.
Japanese officials are investigating possible connections between the helicopters of China’s Coast Guard helicopters’ airspace invasion and small Japanese aircraft flying around the same time.
China routinely sends coast guard ships and aircraft to the water and airspace surrounding the islands that China calls Diayu, harassing Japanese ships in the area, and promptly mobilizing jets to Japan.
Saturday’s invasion was China’s first since a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft violated Japanese airspace off the southern prefecture of Nagasaki in August. Chinese aircraft have also violated Japanese airspace around Senkaku twice in the past.
