China and Japan exchange protests after ‘right-wing extremists’ fly plane over disputed islands

Beijing and Tokyo exchanged diplomatic protests after an unknown Japanese group flew a civil plane over a disputed island in the East Chinese Sea.

The Senkaku is a chain of five unoccupied islands and reefs in the East Chinese Sea, northeast of Taiwan and southwest of Okinawa. It is administered by Japan, but is claimed by Taiwan and China, which they call the Diaoy Islands.

The Chinese Coast Guard said they launched a helicopter to “expel” a Japanese civil plane that entered the airspace over the islands on Saturday morning.

The Chinese Department of Foreign Affairs Liu Jinsong has filed a protest march with Japan Embassy Minister Yokochi Akira over the alleged intrusion by ‘Japanese right -wing extremists who launched a civilian aircraft’.

Mr Liu “urged the Japanese side to stop illegal offense activities and take concrete measures to prevent the repetition of similar incidents”.

Japanese authorities said they were investigating a possible link between the airspace invasion of the Chinese helicopter and a Japanese civil plane flying at about the same time.

Neither Beijing nor Tokyo provided any specific details about the so -called “right -wing extremists” who allegedly flew the plane over the disputed islands.

The Japanese Foreign Ministry said the Chinese helicopter rose from one of the four boats from the coast guard that entered Japan’s territorial waters around Senkaku Islands. The helicopter violated about 15 minutes about 15 minutes on Saturday, the ministry said, adding that it had filed a ‘very serious protest’ with Beijing.

“The self -defense powers answered by scrambling fighter jets,” the ministry said.

Japan’s Foreign Minister, Takehiro Funakoshi, issued a ‘strong protest’ against Beijing about the ‘intrusion’ and ‘violation of Japan’s territorial airspace’.

It was the first Chinese intrusion of the Japanese airspace since a reconnaissance aircraft flew from the southern prefecture of Nagasaki last August.

China regularly sends vessels and aircraft from the coast guard in the waters and airspace around the islands, forcing Japan to mobilize its fighter jets.

In the past, the Japanese right -wing nationalist factions, which are often loosely organized with a few ties with militaristic symbolism, have increased the tension with China through challenging action. In 1996, ultranationalist Nihon Seinensha built a lighthouse on one of the disputed islands, which caused widespread protests in China, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

In the aftermath of the latest incident, Zhang Xiaogang, spokesperson for the defense ministry, said: “China demands that Japan strictly limit the activities of its citizens, stop the provocative acts that complicate the situation in the waters and airspace around the Diaoyu Islands and avoid affecting unstable and unsafe factors that affect the general situation of the general situation of the general situation of China-Japan’s development.”