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
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