Japanese defense officials dont take their eyes off Chinese air activity after a not-so-long-ago incident near their southern territory. The high-level monitoring comes after a mid-air mix-up that caused quite a stir between the two countries
This past summer a Chinese Y-9 spy-plane crossed into Japanese airspace near the island of Kyushu (which made Japanese Defense Ministry quickly send up their fighter-jets to check things out). The whole thing lasted just a few minutes but it sure got Tokyoʼs attention; they sent a strong-worded message to Beijing right away
The Chinese side gave their side of the story: bad weather and air-turbulence pushed their plane off-course – it wasnt done on purpose they said. Now Japanese officials are keeping tabs on whether China sticks to its word about stopping these kind of mix-ups from happening again. The defense ministry is super-careful about these things: theyʼve got their radar working non-stop to watch the skies around Japanʼs borders
The Y-9 incident (which happened about 3 months ago) shows how tricky things can get when it comes to air-space rules in East Asia. Japanese air force keeps their jets ready-to-go 24/7 – thats just how serious they are about protecting their air-space