Japan scrambles fighter jets for fourth straight day after detecting Chinese military aircraft

Japan scrambled fighter jets for the fourth consecutive day after detecting a Chinese intelligence-gathering aircraft over waters near its southwestern islands. The aircraft, identified as a Shaanxi Y-9, flew over the East China Sea toward a point south of the Danjo Islands in Nagasaki prefecture, then moved southwest off Okinawa before returning to mainland China.

Japan’s Air Self-Defense Force responded to similar Y-9 flights on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The repeated encounters have added to tensions between Tokyo and Beijing, particularly as relations remain strained over Taiwan.

Japan also identified a Russian intelligence-gathering aircraft on Saturday. The plane flew over the Pacific toward the coast of Miyagi in northeastern Japan, then moved toward the Sea of Japan through the Sea of Okhotsk. Japanese forces deployed fighter jets in response to that incident as well.

Such encounters around Japan are relatively frequent, but the latest incidents also come after Russian President Vladimir Putin recently visited the disputed Kuril Islands. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi described that visit as “absolutely unacceptable.”

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absolutely unacceptable