Japan says Chinese military violated territorial airspace for first time

Credit: Ministry of Defence of the Russian Federation

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A Chinese military aircraft was confirmed for the first time to have violated Japanese territorial airspace on Monday morning, the Defense Ministry in Tokyo said, with Japan strongly protesting the move.

The Defense Ministry said one of the Chinese military's Y-9 intelligence-gathering planes had briefly entered Japanese territory near the Danjo Islands off Nagasaki Prefecture from around 11:29 a.m. to 11:31 a.m., prompting the Air Self-Defense Force to scramble fighter jets in response.

The ministry said the fighters had taken steps such as "issuing warnings," while NHK reported that no weapons or flares were fired.