Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Japan’s Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs FUNAKOSHI Takehiro on Thursday expressed Japan’s serious concerns to Chinese Ambassador Wu Jianghao over incidents involving Chinese military aircraft, Japan’s Foreign Ministry reported.

On July 9 and 10, Chinese military aircraft made unusually close approaches toward aircraft belonging to Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force that were conducting surveillance and monitoring operations over the East China Sea. 

Funakoshi stressed that these actions could provoke accidental collisions and strongly urged the government of China to ensure that similar actions are not repeated.

The incident reportedly occurred over international waters in the East China Sea and involved a Chinese JH-7 fighter-bomber and an ASDF YS-11EB electronic intelligence aircraft. A similar incident occurred in June.

China and Japan have a territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands, known as the Diaoyu Islands in China, which lie to the west of Okinawa in the East China Sea.