Tokyo, Beijing trade complaints after radar use by Chinese jets to target Japanese craft

Beijing and Tokyo traded complaints against each other as their simmering diplomatic spat intensified over the weekend after Chinese fighter aircraft allegedly trained their fire-control radar systems on Japanese military jets.

- Bloomberg

A senior Japanese foreign ministry official reprimanded China’s ambassador to Japan on Sunday over the alleged use of the radar on the Japanese military aircraft, while China’s foreign ministry said Japan was making “false accusations” and lodged counter protests with Tokyo. Japan’s top government spokesman Minoru Kihara emphasized Monday morning that Tokyo “will continue to respond calmly and resolutely” and keep communicating with Beijing. Kihara also said no changes had been observed in China’s controls on rare earths so far, following a local media report that Japanese companies are facing delays in getting Chinese clearance to import minerals amid the diplomatic stalemate.

The incident over the weekend happened over the high seas south east of Okinawa, where J-15 fighter jets launched from the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning intermittently locked radar on Japanese F-15 fighter jets that were monitoring the activity of the Chinese jet, according to a statement by Japan's defense ministry.

Unlike radar systems used by military aircraft and ships to monitor for potential threats over a wide area, a fire-control radar is used to track a specific object and lock weapons systems on it. Engaging a fire-control radar is considered a hostile act since it is a step taken before the launch of weapons against the target.

Japanese fighter planes flew into China's training area “without authorization and carried out reconnaissance and interference on Chinese military activities,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a regular press briefing in Beijing on Monday. “The Japanese side has ulterior motives in deliberately spreading and hyping up false information in the field of military security and playing up the tense situation at this time.”

Guo said Chinese planes were using search radar during their training flights.