Chinese military aircraft locked radar onto Japanese fighter jets southeast of Okinawa’s main island, Japan’s Defense Ministry said on Sunday.
Fighter jets use their radar for fire control to identify targets as well as for search and rescue operations.
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said the incident was “dangerous and extremely regrettable”, adding that Japan had lodged “a strong protest” with China.
Beijing’s Foreign Ministry said it rejected that protest, and had lodged its own counter-protest, according to state news agency Xinhua.
A foreign ministry spokesperson, cited by Xinhua, urged Japan to “immediately stop its dangerous moves of harassing China’s normal military exercise and training”. (AFP)
