Japan Protests After Jets Targeted by China With Radar
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Japan’s Ministry of Defense said the episodes occurred on Saturday in international airspace southeast of Okinawa. The ministry said no Japanese aircraft were damaged and that the Chinese jets did not enter Japan’s territorial airspace.
Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said on Sunday the radar illumination was a “dangerous act that exceeded the scope necessary for the safe flight of the aircraft.” Speaking alongside Australian Deputy Defense Minister Richard Marles at a joint press conference, Koizumi said that “Japan strongly protested against it and urged China to strictly prevent its recurrence.”
Japanese Vice Foreign Minister Takehiro Funakoshi also summoned Chinese Ambassador Wu Jianghao, delivering what the foreign ministry called a “strong protest” over the incidents.
Koizumi said both encounters involved J-15 fighters launched from the aircraft carrier Liaoning. The first occurred between 4:32 p.m. and 4:35 p.m. on Saturday, when a J-15 intermittently illuminated a Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) F-15 with radar. A second episode followed between 6:37 p.m. and 7:08 p.m., when another J-15 repeatedly targeted a JASDF F-15.
Marles, speaking after meeting with Koizumi, said the Chinese regime’s conduct in the region was routinely inconsistent with a rules-based order. Australia’s national interests, he said, center on preserving freedom of navigation and upholding international maritime law, including the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, or UNCLOS.
“We are deeply concerned by the actions of China in the last 24 hours,” Marles stated. “Australia and Japan [will] work together to uphold a free and open Indo‑Pacific.”
In response, the Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson denied the allegations of radar illumination and rejected Japan’s protest. The spokesperson said China lodged a “counter-protest” in Beijing and Tokyo.
The radar confrontation comes amid growing concerns in Tokyo over the Chinese regime’s military posture around Taiwan and the East China Sea.
Last month, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said that a Chinese attack on Taiwan could constitute “a survival-threatening situation” for Japan—a legal threshold that could allow Tokyo to mobilize its military in support of Taiwan and the United States.
