Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi has briefed NATO about joint patrols by Chinese and Russian aircraft and a recent incident that involved a Chinese aircraft locking its radar onto Japanese planes near Taiwan, Tokyo said yesterday.
NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte and Japanese Minister of Defense Shinjiro Koizumi spoke in a 15-minute video conference, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement after the call.
The two shared their "grave concerns" about joint patrols by Chinese and Russian aircraft on Tuesday, it said.
Photo: AFP / Japanese Ministry of Defense
The patrols came as Japan-China relations worsen after comments by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last month suggesting that Japan would intervene militarily in any Chinese attack on Taiwan.
"Both sides shared their grave concerns over this incident and concurred to closely communicate with each other," the ministry said.
According to Tokyo, two Russian Tu-95 nuclear-capable bombers on Tuesday flew from the Sea of Japan to rendezvous with two Chinese H-6 bombers in the East China Sea, then conducted a joint flight around the country.
Japan scrambled aircraft in response.
South Korea on Tuesday said that Russian and Chinese warplanes also entered its air defense zone, with Seoul also deploying fighter jets.
Beijing later on Tuesday confirmed that it had organized drills with Russia's military according to "annual cooperation plans."
Moscow described it as a routine exercise, saying it lasted eight hours and that some foreign fighter jets followed the Russian and Chinese aircraft.
Koizumi also briefed Rutte about another recent incident that involved Chinese aircraft locking its radar onto Japanese planes near Taiwan, the statement said.
On Sunday, the ministry said a Chinese J-15 military jet took off from the Chinese carrier Liaoning near Japan’s Okinawa on Saturday and “intermittently” locked its radar on Japanese F-15 jets on two occasions, for about three minutes in the late afternoon and for about 30 minutes in the evening.
Additional reporting by AP
Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of teenage diarist Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, of which Schloss was honorary president, said she died on Saturday in London, where she lived. Britain’s King Charles III said he was “privileged and proud” to have known Schloss, who cofounded the charitable trust to help young people challenge prejudice. “The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice, promoting kindness, courage, understanding
US President Donald Trump on Friday said Washington was “locked and loaded” to respond if Iran killed protesters, prompting Tehran to warn that intervention would destabilize the region. Protesters and security forces on Thursday clashed in several Iranian cities, with six people reported killed, the first deaths since the unrest escalated. Shopkeepers in Tehran on Sunday last week went on strike over high prices and economic stagnation, actions that have since spread into a protest movement that has swept into other parts of the country. If Iran “violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to
‘DISRESPECTFUL’: Katie Miller, the wife of Trump’s most influential adviser, drew ire by posting an image of Greenland in the colors of the US flag, captioning it ‘SOON’ US President Donald Trump on Sunday doubled down on his claim that Greenland should become part of the US, despite calls by the Danish prime minister to stop “threatening” the territory. Washington’s military intervention in Venezuela has reignited fears for Greenland, which Trump has repeatedly said he wants to annex, given its strategic location in the arctic. While aboard Air Force One en route to Washington, Trump reiterated the goal. “We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it,” he said in response to a reporter’s question. “We’ll worry about Greenland in
PERILOUS JOURNEY: Over just a matter of days last month, about 1,600 Afghans who were at risk of perishing due to the cold weather were rescued in the mountains Habibullah set off from his home in western Afghanistan determined to find work in Iran, only for the 15-year-old to freeze to death while walking across the mountainous frontier. “He was forced to go, to bring food for the family,” his mother, Mah Jan, said at her mud home in Ghunjan village. “We have no food to eat, we have no clothes to wear. The house in which I live has no electricity, no water. I have no proper window, nothing to burn for heating,” she added, clutching a photograph of her son. Habibullah was one of at least 18 migrants who died
RSS