In a First, Chinese Military Plane Breaches Japan’s Territorial Airspace.

A Chinese military surveillance aircraft violated Japanese airspace off the southwest coast of the country on Monday, marking what the Japanese Ministry of Defense described as the first known incursion by the Chinese military into its territorial airspace. According to a ministry official, a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft briefly entered Japanese territory near Nagasaki Prefecture on Monday around 11:30 AM. In response, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces placed fighter jets on maximum alert and issued a warning to the Chinese aircraft.
Follow Army Recognition on Google News at this link

A Y-9 aircraft at an airshow in Zhuhai, China, in 2022, in a photo released by Chinese state media.Credit... (Picture source: Chen Jimin)

While Chinese aircraft frequently appear in the international airspace around Japan, this incident represents the first confirmed entry of a military aircraft into Japanese territorial airspace.

Over the past two decades, Japan has increasingly faced intrusions by foreign aircraft. Last year, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces scrambled fighter jets to intercept foreign aircraft 669 times, more than three times the number twenty years ago. Among these 669 cases, 479 were related to sightings of Chinese aircraft near territorial areas, according to the Japanese Ministry of Defense.

Military analysts suggest that Monday's airspace violation could be a message from China challenging Japan's territorial boundary delimitation. China claims control of a vast continental shelf in the East China Sea, the outer edge of which extends near the Danjo Islands area, where the Chinese aircraft was spotted.

This airspace violation is the latest in a series of recent events that have heightened tensions between Japan and China.

Last week, a Chinese announcer deviated from the script of a news radio program from the Japanese public broadcaster, stating that the Senkaku Islands, controlled by Japan but claimed by China, were Chinese territory. The same day, graffiti was discovered at the Yasukuni Shrine war memorial site in Tokyo, using Chinese characters that appeared to mean "toilets."