High-Stakes Aerial Encounters: Chinese Jets Shadow Japanese Patrol Planes

In a concerning development over the weekend, Chinese fighter jets came uncomfortably close to Japanese military patrol planes, as reported by Japan's defense ministry on Thursday. This occurred alongside the simultaneous Pacific Ocean operations of two Chinese aircraft carriers for the first time.

The incidents saw a Chinese J-15 jet from the Shandong aircraft carrier tailing a Japanese P-3C patrol aircraft for 40 minutes on Saturday. Similar actions were repeated on Sunday when another J-15 pursued a P-3C for 80 minutes, at one point closing in to just 900 meters ahead of the Japanese aircraft.

Japan's Maritime Self-Defense Force, based in Okinawa, was conducting surveillance in international waters. Tokyo expressed serious concerns about the abnormal approaches, fearing potential collisions, and criticized Beijing's explanation of the operations as routine training, recalling previous episodes of tension in 2014.

(With inputs from agencies.)