Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi acknowledged that China had notified Japan in advance about drills involving the aircraft carrier Liaoning that led to a stand-off between warplanes from the two countries over the weekend.
However, Koizumi told a press conference on Wednesday that the notification lacked detail about the scale and location of the exercise in the Pacific southeast of Okinawa’s main island and Beijing had not provided “notices to air missions”, a warning to ships and aircraft.
“The Self-Defence Forces were not provided with specific information on the scale and airspace in which aircraft from the carrier Liaoning would conduct training,” Koizumi said. “As a result, there was insufficient information for the avoidance of danger.”
On Tuesday, a purported audio recording of radio communication between the two navies was published by Yuyuantantian, a social media account run by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, as evidence that notice was given before carrier-based jets began their training exercise.
Koizumi did not make a direct comment about the recording during Wednesday’s press conference, according to Kyodo.
The two sides have been trading barbs over the stand-off on Saturday.
Japan has claimed that the J-15 fighters from the carrier had locked fire-control radars – used to direct weapons towards a target – on Japanese F-15 jets in international airspace near Okinawa.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said on Tuesday it was “standard practice for worldwide carrier-based aircraft to activate their search radars during flight training, and a routine and necessary measure to ensure flight safety”.
His comments implied that the radar signals detected by Japan were from a routine search radar that sweeps continuously to monitor airspace, rather than from a hostile fire-control lock. However, when asked, Guo did not explicitly deny that the fire-control radar was intermittently illuminated.
Yuyuantantian said the Chinese fighters had also detected radar search signals from the Japanese aircraft, but Koizumi dismissed the claim on Wednesday.
The audio recording released by Yuyuantantian included a clip of a man saying in English and Chinese: “This is China navy warship 101. Our formation organises shipboard aircraft flight training as planned. Over.”
“Chinese warship 101, this is Japan warship 116. I copy your message,” replied a female voice in English.
The Chinese Type-055 guided-missile destroyer Nanchang has the hull number 101 and Japan’s Akizuki-class destroyer JS Teruzuki has the hull number 116. Japan’s defence ministry said its ship had been sent to monitor the Liaoning carrier group.
The radio communication between the Nanchang and the Teruzuki happened at 2.10pm, and again at 2.28pm, Yuyuantantian said, citing “insider knowledge”.
The second announcement said the training was expected to begin at 3pm and last around six hours, “primarily in the area south of the aircraft carrier” – and the Teruzuki again confirmed via radio that it had received the notification. But after the training started, two Japanese F-15s were spotted approaching, it added.
Guo went on to blame the presence of Japanese fighters in the Liaoning’s training area for “creating this dangerous incident that should never have occurred”, deliberately disrupting China’s normal and lawful military exercises and provoking tensions.
On Tuesday Koizumi told lawmakers that the Japanese side “has not confirmed any prior notification on the training activities through a notice to air missions or a navigational warning”.
According to the Japanese defence ministry, there were two separate incidents. The first instance of intermittent radar illumination occurred at 4.32pm. It lasted for three minutes, while the second incident targeted a different F-15 two hours later at 6.37pm and persisted intermittently for over 31 minutes.
On Tuesday, NHK reported that an analysis indicated Chinese fighters had locked onto the Japanese jets from around 52km (32 miles) during the first incident and 148km during the second, and that officials were still investigating Beijing’s intentions.
The Yuyuantantian post provided a trajectory map of the jets. The diagram showed two Japanese fighters making a V-shaped turn, while the Chinese fighter moved in an elliptical orbit. It claimed that the closest distance between them was less than 50km.
It did not specify which instance the map depicted. Still, it said the Japanese action had “seriously disrupted the PLA’s normal training operations and placed both sides in a dangerous situation”, given that the detection radar range of most current fighter jets is more than 50km.
“Since Japanese aircraft deliberately entered the Chinese exercise zone, they automatically came within the detection range of the Chinese radar and would naturally be able to sense the radar signals,” it said, also suggesting a search radar rather than fire control radar.
“Likewise, the Chinese aircraft also detected the radar signals from the Japanese fighters.”
The incident highlighted the ongoing tension between China and Japan following Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s controversial comments on Taiwan.
Takaichi told the Japanese Parliament on November 7 that a crisis in the Taiwan Strait could justify military intervention, which Beijing said crossed a red line.
Beijing sees Taiwan as part of China and has never ruled out the use of force to reunify it with the mainland. Japan, in common with most countries, does not recognise the island as independent but opposes any attempt to take it by force. -- SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST
