A Chinese Y-9 intelligence-gathering aircraft entered Japanese airspace for two minutes starting at 11:29 a.m. local time near the Danjo Islands, off the southernmost main island of Kyushu, the Japanese Defense Ministry said.
Japan has summoned China’s acting ambassador to protest the incident and call for measures to prevent a repeat, Japan’s Foreign Ministry said.
A flight path released by the Defense Ministry shows the plane flew over the area near the Danjo Islands before entering Japanese airspace and then headed back toward mainland China. The incident was the first confirmed incursion into Japanese airspace by a Chinese military aircraft, according to a Defense Ministry official, who asked not to be identified in line with ministry custom.
There have been two previous incursions by Chinese government civilian aircraft: one with a propeller plane in 2012 and another with a drone in 2017, the official said.
China had no immediate comment on the incident, which comes after Japanese media reported that a Japanese destroyer sailed into Chinese territorial waters last month, despite being warned by Chinese vessels.
Military tension between Japan and China often centers on Japanese-controlled islands in the East China Sea, which China also claims. China frequently sends coast guard ships to patrol nearby areas.
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