Japan says it will monitor China's military activity after Beijing admitted to violating Japanese airspace

Japanese officials said on Wednesday they were closely monitoring whether China kept its promise to prevent violations of Japanese airspace after it explained that the attack on a Chinese military jet nearly three months ago was unintentional and caused chaos.

Tokyo protested and demanded an explanation from Beijing after China's Y-9 surveillance plane briefly entered Japan's airspace from the southern main island of Kyushu in Aug. 26, causing the Japanese military to disperse the fighter jets and alert the aircraft.

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Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said China acknowledges the airspace violation and assured Japan that it will make efforts to prevent it from happening again.

“We are aware of China's explanation, and we will closely monitor the activities of the Chinese military from now on,” Hayashi said.

China said the airspace violation occurred when the pilot took emergency action in response to turbulence in the area and was not intentional, Japan's Foreign Ministry said. Japanese officials did not disclose further details, as China offered an explanation, citing diplomatic protocol.

Although planes can experience turbulence, such a deviation from the flight path is unthinkable, Japanese officials said.

Public broadcaster NHK reported that Japanese defense officials said they still find the violation of airspace unacceptable because it is a serious violation of territorial sovereignty.

In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian did not confirm what Japanese officials said they had been told. He said that only the foreign and defense ministers of the two countries have been talking about this issue and that “China has no intention of entering the space of any country.”

Japanese officials are concerned about China's growing military activity around Japan's southwestern waters and airspace. It has led Tokyo to significantly strengthen its defenses in the region, including the remote islands that are considered key to Japan's defense strategy.

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Japan is also concerned about joint military activities between China and Russia.

A Chinese survey vessel breached Japanese territory near the southern island in August. In September, the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning and two destroyers sailed between Japan's western island of Yonaguni – just east of Taiwan – and nearby Iriomote, entering Japan's “conflict zone”, the area just outside the country's territorial waters. where he can still exercise. some control over maritime traffic.