Japan has expressed serious concerns to Beijing through diplomatic and defence channels after a Chinese fighter jet from the aircraft carrier Shandong made “abnormal approaches” to a Japanese patrol aircraft over the Pacific Ocean.
In a statement, Tokyo’s defence ministry said a J-15 fighter shadowed its P-3C patrol aircraft operating over the Pacific for about 40 minutes from 10.30am on Saturday and again for around 80 minutes from 2pm on Sunday.
The ministry said the Chinese fighter approached close to a horizontal distance of about 45 metres with no altitude difference and, in another manoeuvre on Sunday, “crossed approximately 900 metres ahead of the patrol aircraft’s course, with no altitude difference”.
The ministry also published images of the Chinese aircraft holding a position just off the P-3C’s port and starboard wings.
“Such unusual approaches by Chinese military aircraft could lead to an accidental collision,” the ministry said in the statement, calling on Beijing to take steps against a repeat of such an incident.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian, however, said at a press conference on Thursday that the country’s military activities “fully comply with international law and practices”. He insisted Japanese “close-in reconnaissance activities” of China’s “normal” operations were “the root cause of maritime and air security risks”, according to Kyodo.
