Over the course of yesterday, Japan’s Ministry of Defense released details of two new incidents involving dangerous interception maneuvers carried out by a Chinese J-15 fighter launched from the aircraft carrier Shandong against a P-3C Orion belonging to the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. The Japanese aircraft had been conducting surveillance on the movements of the carrier in the Pacific. The development comes amid rising concerns in Tokyo and among its allies, triggered by what constitutes the first deployment of two Chinese aircraft carriers — the Shandong and the Liaoning — along with their respective escorts, beyond the so-called First Island Chain outlined by the U.S. as part of its containment strategy toward the Asian giant.
Expanding on details provided by Japan’s defense ministry, the first of the two incidents took place on Saturday, when Chinese J-15s shadowed a Japanese P-3C Orion for a total of 40 minutes. In the images released, both aircraft can be seen flying at an estimated distance of about 50 meters, close enough to be considered a latent collision risk.
Following this, on Sunday, a similar situation occurred when J-15 fighters again approached the Japanese surveillance aircraft. However, in this case, the shadowing lasted not 40 but 80 minutes and included a crossing maneuver performed by the fighter roughly 900 meters in front of the Orion’s nose — an action also deemed dangerous due to the flight paths of the aircraft. From the Japanese perspective, these were “unusual approaches by Chinese military aircraft that could potentially lead to accidental collisions.”
As expected, both incidents prompted diplomatic protests from Tokyo toward its counterparts in Beijing. Today, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi held a press conference addressing the matter: “The government has expressed its serious concern to the Chinese side, including the Chinese ambassador in Tokyo, through the Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, and has strongly urged them to prevent such incidents from recurring.” He later added that Japan would continue: “to make every effort to ensure surveillance and monitoring operations in Japan’s surrounding airspace and waters in order to firmly defend its territorial waters, airspace, and sovereign rights.”
It should also be noted that the notable gap between when the incidents occurred and when they were reported by Japanese officials was intentional, as Tokyo deemed it necessary to first complete a full report on the maneuvers, including interviews with the pilots and analysis of the flight data. The matter is far from trivial, considering this marks the third time such accusations have been made since 2014, with previous incidents recorded near the disputed Senkaku Islands.
*Cover image: Japan Ministry of Defense
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