China, ‘Japanese plane entered illegally’
Japan has launched a “vigorous protest” against Beijing, claiming to have observed a “intrusion” yesterday in its aerial space and in its territorial waters around the disputed islands. These uninhabited islands, known as Diayu in China and Senkaku in Japan, are administered by Tokyo, but are claimed by Beijing and represent a recurring tension between the two countries.
The Deputy Minister of Japanese Foreign Affairs Takehiro Funakoshi – is learned from a diplomatic note – sent a “vigorous protest” to the Chinese ambassador “last night due to the intrusion of four Chinese Coast Guard ships in Japanese territorial waters around the Senkaku islands and the violation of the Japanese airspace by a helicopter”.
According to the Japanese Defense Ministry, the latter aircraft took off by one of the coast guard ships and flew over the Japanese airspace for about fifteen minutes. “The forces of self -defense (Japanese) replied by sending combat planes,” said the source.
According to the NHK issuer and other local media, this is the first time that a Chinese helicopter violates the Japanese airspace over the disputed islands.
Liu Dejun, spokesman for the Chinese coast guard, said that yesterday a Japanese civil plane “entered illegally” in the disputed islands and left after five minutes. A coast guard ship “took the necessary control measures” against the plane and “launched an embarked helicopter to notify and remove it”, reads an online declaration. “The Diaoyu islands and affiliated islands are a territory belonging to China and urge Japan to immediately cease all illegal activities,” he added.
Beijing often announces that he has expelled Japanese ships and planes from the islands, but some Japanese officials have declared to the FP that sometimes the Chinese authorities have announced expulsions actually never occurred.
The tensions between China and the other countries that claim territories in the southern Chinese Sea have pushed Japan to tighten the ties with the Philippines and the United States.
