China and Japan have traded accusations after a series of close encounters between their warplanes last week.
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On Sunday the Chinese defence ministry accused Japanese reconnaissance aircraft of “repeatedly” entering China’s air defence identification zone in the East China Sea.
The comments followed a Japanese statement issued three days earlier that accused a Chinese JH-7 fighter-bomber of making “unusual approaches” towards a Japanese YS-11EB electronic-intelligence aircraft. on Wednesday and Thursday.
“Such unusual approaches by Chinese military aircraft could lead to an accidental collision,” the Japanese defence ministry said.
However, Jiang Bin, a spokesman for the defence ministry in Beijing, said Chinese forces had “lawfully identified, tracked and monitored” Japanese aircraft in a “legitimate, reasonable, professional and standard” manner.
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“Japanese ships and aircrafts’ close-in reconnaissance and harassment of the Chinese side are the root cause of China-Japan maritime and air security risks,” he said.