Feuding international locations commerce accusations amid escalating dispute following Japanese PM’s feedback about Taiwan.
Revealed On 8 Dec 2025
Japan has summoned China’s ambassador over an incident wherein Chinese language navy plane allegedly twice locked fire-control radar onto Japanese fighter jets, as tensions between the 2 international locations surge.
The transfer by the Japanese Ministry of Overseas Affairs on Sunday was to protest in opposition to what it referred to as the damaging and “extraordinarily regrettable” behaviour of the Chinese language J-15 fighter jets over worldwide waters southeast of Okinawa’s predominant island the day before today.
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It stated China’s Liaoning plane provider fighter jets aimed radar beams at Japanese plane scrambled to shadow the vessel – claims denied by the Chinese language embassy.
Illuminating plane with radar alerts a possible assault that would drive focused planes to take evasive measures, making it among the many most threatening actions a navy plane can take.
The summoning of Ambassador Wu Jianghao got here amid deeply strained relations between Beijing and Tokyo since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi stated final month {that a} Chinese language invasion of Taiwan would represent a “survival-threatening scenario” for Japan – suggesting that Tokyo would intervene militarily.
The feedback by Takaichi, who entered workplace in October, have enraged Beijing and led to a livid diplomatic dispute.
Beijing has summoned the Japanese ambassador, written to the United Nations, urged residents to keep away from travelling to Japan and renewed a ban on Japanese seafood imports, whereas cultural occasions involving Japanese performers and films have also been hit.
Accusations traded
The incident over the weekend offered a setting for the most recent flashpoint within the tensions.
Each international locations have traded quarrelsome accusations, with the Chinese language Navy saying on Sunday that the scrambled Japanese F-15s had repeatedly approached its coaching space and endangered flight security, whereas Japan’s chief authorities spokesman Minoru Kihara insisted on Monday that these claims have been unfounded.
Japan’s navy stated about 100 take-offs and landings had been performed from the plane provider because it sailed east into the Pacific Ocean previous the Okinawa Islands over the weekend.
Japan would “reply calmly however firmly and proceed to watch the actions of Chinese language forces within the waters round our nation”, Kihara stated, rejecting China’s declare that Japanese plane had obstructed secure flight operations.
For its half, the Chinese language embassy denied Tokyo’s claims, saying in an announcement that “China solemnly calls for that Japan cease smearing and slandering, strictly restrain its frontline actions, and stop related incidents from taking place once more.”
Japan hosts the most important overseas deployment of america navy, together with 1000’s of US Marines stationed in Okinawa.
Washington’s ambassador to Japan has voiced help for Tokyo within the dispute with Beijing, though US President Donald Trump, who’s scheduled to journey to China for commerce talks subsequent 12 months, has to this point stayed out of the dispute.
