Japan and South Korea separately scrambled warplanes after Russian and Chinese jets conducted joint patrols in the skies near the two countries amid intensifying tensions in the region.
Chinese and Russian militaries flew bombers and fighters over the East China Sea and the western Pacific Ocean to conduct their 10th joint strategic air patrol exercises on Tuesday, the Chinese defence ministry said.
The exercises, part of an annual cooperation plan between the countries since 2019, lasted for about eight hours, Russian news agencies reported, citing the defence ministry.
In response, the Japanese defence ministry said the show of force against Tokyo was a “serious concern for our national security” after the country sent its own jets to monitor the Russian and Chinese warplanes.
The airshow between Russia and China added to regional tensions as a diplomatic rift continued to deepen between Tokyo and Beijing. Japan’s prime minister Sanae Takaichi warned last month that Tokyo could respond to any Chinese military action against Taiwan that also threatened Japan’s security.
On Sunday, the two traded accusations after an allegation that Chinese fighter jets trained their fire-control radar on Japanese military aircraft.
Illuminating aircraft with a radar signals a potential attack that may force targeted planes to take evasive action. The Chinese embassy denied Tokyo’s claims, saying Japanese aircraft had endangered flight safety by approaching China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier as it trained with three missile-destroyer escorts.
Following the incident, a hotline between Japanese and Chinese defence authorities is reportedly not working.
Two Russian Tu-95 nuclear-capable bombers flew from the Sea of Japan to the East China Sea to meet two Chinese H-6 bombers, and together they carried out “a long-distance joint flight” over the Pacific, the Chinese defence ministry said.
Four Chinese J-16 fighter jets joined the bombers as they made a round-trip flight between Japan’s Okinawa and Miyako islands, it added. The Miyako Strait between the two islands is classified as international waters.
Japan’s defence minister Shinjiro Koizumi said the country’s fighter jets “strictly implemented air defence identification measures”.
South Korea’s military said it deployed its aircraft after seven Russian warplanes and two Chinese aircraft entered its air identification zone (KAIDZ) above waters off the Korean peninsula’s eastern and southern coasts.
However, they did not violate South Korea’s territorial airspace.
“Our military detected the Chinese and Russian aircraft before they entered KADIZ and deployed Air Force fighter jets to take tactical measures in preparation for any contingencies,” South Korea’s military said in a statement.
A Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson dodged the question about whether Beijing did not answer Japan’s “hotline call”. Ms Takaichi’s comments prompted Beijing to advise citizens not to travel to Japan. It also paused a restart of seafood imports suspended after Japan released treated water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.
China claims democratically governed Taiwan and has ramped up military and political pressure against the island, whose government rejects Beijing’s territorial claims.
