China and Japan have traded accusations after a series of close encounters between their warplanes last week.
On Sunday the Chinese defence ministry accused Japanese reconnaissance aircraft of “repeatedly” entering China’s air defence identification zone in the East China Sea.
The comments followed a Japanese statement issued three days earlier that accused a Chinese JH-7 fighter-bomber of making “unusual approaches” towards a Japanese YS-11EB electronic-intelligence aircraft. on Wednesday and Thursday.
“Such unusual approaches by Chinese military aircraft could lead to an accidental collision,” the Japanese defence ministry said.
However, Jiang Bin, a spokesman for the defence ministry in Beijing, said Chinese forces had “lawfully identified, tracked and monitored” Japanese aircraft in a “legitimate, reasonable, professional and standard” manner.
“Japanese ships and aircrafts’ close-in reconnaissance and harassment of the Chinese side are the root cause of China-Japan maritime and air security risks,” he said.
