China on Sunday denied that it had risked a collision in close encounters with Air Self-Defense Force surveillance aircraft over the East China Sea last week, calling “close-in reconnaissance and harassment” by the Japanese side “the root cause” of the latest incident.
Chinese JH-7 fighter-bombers came within 30 meters of the Japanese YS-11EB electronic intelligence aircraft on Wednesday and Thursday, according to the Defense Ministry in Tokyo, making “unusual approaches” over international waters.
But Chinese Defense Ministry spokesperson Jiang Bin called the move “entirely justified, reasonable, professional and up to standard” after ASDF aircraft “repeatedly entered China's East China Sea Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) for close-in surveillance.”
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