China says it is investigating a report from Japan that a Chinese military aircraft violated Japanese airspace, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said in Beijing on Tuesday.
China has no plans to invade other countries’ airspace, he said, adding that the two sides are in contact.
Japan’s Defense Ministry said a Chinese Y-9 reconnaissance aircraft flew for about two minutes over the East China Sea and through the airspace around the Danjo Archipelago, part of Japan’s southwestern Nagasaki Prefecture, on Monday morning.
Japan launched fighter jets in response. Government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi called it an unacceptable incident that violated Japanese territory and posed a threat to security. The government summoned the acting Chinese ambassador to Japan to file a protest.
First known incident of its kind
According to the Japanese news agency Kyodo, the incident marks the first time that a Chinese military aircraft has demonstrably entered Japanese airspace.
Aircraft operated by Chinese authorities, but not the military, previously violated Japanese airspace in 2012 and 2017.
Relations between China and Japan are considered tense, partly because both sides have territorial claims over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, known in China as the Diaoyu Islands.
