Beijing detects suspected Japanese spy jets near Taiwan

Mainland Chinese maritime authorities detected what analysts believed to be Japanese surveillance aircraft southeast of Taiwan on Monday, after Beijing bolstered patrols around the waters following border talks between Japan and the Philippines.

Beijing’s maritime law enforcement twice detected what appeared to be fixed-wing aircraft belonging to the Japan Coast Guard during its patrol southeast of Taiwan on Monday, according to a video published on Tuesday by Yuyuan Tantian, a social media account affiliated with mainland state broadcaster CCTV.

Beijing strengthened patrols east of Taiwan earlier this month in response to maritime border talks between Japan and the Philippines last month.

Manila and Tokyo announced formal negotiations to delimit their overlapping maritime boundaries and exclusive economic zones (EEZ) in the western Pacific Ocean, located east of Taiwan.

Beijing strongly denounced the bilateral talks as “completely illegal and void”.