China has accused Japan of "unprofessional and dangerous" provocations — including radar lock-ons of military aircraft — amid a record spike in scrambles by the Air Self-Defense Force.
Beijing and Tokyo have blasted each other this year over a number of incidents in the air and at sea as a dispute over the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea continues to boil. This has prompted concern over the prospect of an accidental clash by the two Asian giants near the tiny islets, which are known as the Diaoyu in China.
In the first half of fiscal 2016, the ASDF scrambled fighter jets against Chinese aircraft nearing Japanese airspace a record 407 times, the Japanese Defense Ministry said on Oct. 14.