Reuters
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Amid rising tensions between Tokyo and China, Japan has scrambled jets to monitor Russian and Chinese air forces conducting joint patrols across the country, Japan’s Ministry of Defense announced late Tuesday.
Two Russian Tu-95 nuclear-armed strategic bombers flew from the Sea of Japan to the East China Sea and joined two Chinese H-6 bombers for a “long-range joint flight” in the Pacific Ocean, the ministry said.
Four Chinese J-16 fighter jets joined the bomber during a round-trip flight between Japan’s Okinawa and the Miyako Islands, it added. The Miyako Strait between the two islands is designated as international waters.
The ministry also announced that it detected simultaneous activity of the Russian Air Force, consisting of one A-50 early warning aircraft and two Su-30 fighter jets, in the Sea of Japan.
Japan’s Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said in a post on X on Wednesday that the joint operation between Russia and China is “clearly intended to be a show of force against our country and is a serious concern for our national security.”
Koizumi added that Japan’s fighter jets are “strictly implementing air defense identification measures.”
The Russia-China joint flight near Japan lasted eight hours, Russian news agencies reported, citing Moscow’s Ministry of Defense.
The South Korean military also announced on Tuesday that seven Russian planes and two Chinese planes had entered its air defense zone.
Japan said Sunday that a Chinese carrier-launched fighter jet had illuminated a Japanese military plane with radar the day before, an explanation Beijing disputes.
Beijing’s increased military activity near Japan follows Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments last month that the Japanese government may respond to Chinese military action against Taiwan that threatens Japan’s security.
China and Russia have stepped up military cooperation in other regions in recent years, conducting joint operations such as anti-missile drills on Russian territory and live-fire naval exercises in the South China Sea.
