Japan recalls Chinese ambassador after fighter jet incident

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Vice Foreign Minister Takehiro Funakoshi summoned diplomat Wu Jianghao on Sunday afternoon and “filed a strong protest because such dangerous acts are extremely regrettable,” the ministry said in a statement. Funakoshi “strongly urged the Chinese government to ensure that similar actions are not repeated,” he added.

Chinese military aircraft twice locked radars on Japanese warplanes southeast of Okinawa island twice on Saturday, according to information released by Japan’s Defense Ministry. Fighters use radar to identify targets for their attacks, as well as during search and rescue operations.

Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi called the incident “dangerous and extremely regrettable.” Koizumi explained that “a J-15 fighter, launched from the Chinese navy aircraft carrier Liaoning, intermittently locked on” to a Japanese Air Self-Defense Force F-15 fighter, which had been deployed due to the Chinese plane’s intrusion into Japanese airspace. About two hours later, another Chinese J-15 intermittently locked on another Japanese fighter, he added.

— Locking the radar during these incidents is a dangerous act that goes beyond what is necessary for the safe flight of the aircraft, he said.

Warfighters use radar to identify attack targets as well as for search and rescue operations. The Chinese navy said Tokyo’s accusation was “completely inconsistent with the facts.”

Relations between the two countries have been strained since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi suggested in November that his country could intervene militarily in the event of a Chinese attack on Taiwan.