Reuters, Beijing :
China’s Defence Ministry complained today that Japanese surveillance activities threatened the safety of Chinese ships and aircraft, raising the issue after Japan said earlier this week that its jet fighter scrambles had hit levels unseen since the Cold War.
Japan’s air force said the increased number of scrambles were in response to Russian bombers probing its northern skies and Chinese combat aircraft intruding into its southern air space.
China’s Defence Ministry, in a statement faxed to Reuters, said that Chinese air force activities accorded with both international law and norms.
“In recent years, Japanese ships and aircraft have often followed and monitored for lengthy periods and at close distances Chinese ships and aircraft, threatening the safety of the Chinese side,” it said.
“This is the cause of the safety issue in the seas and air between China and Japan,” the ministry added.
“China has a grip on the tracking and surveillance by Japanese ships and aircraft, and takes necessary steps to deal with it,” it said, without elaborating.
Japan says the Chinese fighter incursions are concentrated in the East China Sea, close to uninhabited islets claimed by Japan and China.
Coastguard ships and fighter aircraft from both sides routinely face off around the islands, fuelling fears that an accident could spark a clash.
Meanwhile, recent satellite images published on Thursday show China has made rapid progress in building an airstrip suitable for military use in contested territory in the South China Sea’s Spratly Islands and may be planning another, moves that have been greeted with concern in the United States and Asia.
IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly said March 23 images from Airbus Defence and Space showed work on the runway on reclaimed parts of Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly archipelago, which China contests with the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
It said images from earlier in March showed reclamation work on Subu Reef in the Spratlys creating landmasses that, if joined together, could create space for another 3,000-meter (3,281-yard) airstrip.
The report said other images suggested China was working to extend another airstrip to that length in the Paracel Islands further north in the potentially energy-rich South China Sea, a vital shipping route through which $5 trillion of trade passes every year.
The report comes a day after the US military commander for Asia, Admiral Samuel Locklear, said China, which claims most of the South China Sea, could eventually deploy radar and missile systems on outposts it is building that could be used to enforce an exclusion zone should it move to declare one.
China’s Defence Ministry complained today that Japanese surveillance activities threatened the safety of Chinese ships and aircraft, raising the issue after Japan said earlier this week that its jet fighter scrambles had hit levels unseen since the Cold War.
Japan’s air force said the increased number of scrambles were in response to Russian bombers probing its northern skies and Chinese combat aircraft intruding into its southern air space.
China’s Defence Ministry, in a statement faxed to Reuters, said that Chinese air force activities accorded with both international law and norms.
“In recent years, Japanese ships and aircraft have often followed and monitored for lengthy periods and at close distances Chinese ships and aircraft, threatening the safety of the Chinese side,” it said.
“This is the cause of the safety issue in the seas and air between China and Japan,” the ministry added.
“China has a grip on the tracking and surveillance by Japanese ships and aircraft, and takes necessary steps to deal with it,” it said, without elaborating.
Japan says the Chinese fighter incursions are concentrated in the East China Sea, close to uninhabited islets claimed by Japan and China.
Coastguard ships and fighter aircraft from both sides routinely face off around the islands, fuelling fears that an accident could spark a clash.
Meanwhile, recent satellite images published on Thursday show China has made rapid progress in building an airstrip suitable for military use in contested territory in the South China Sea’s Spratly Islands and may be planning another, moves that have been greeted with concern in the United States and Asia.
IHS Jane’s Defense Weekly said March 23 images from Airbus Defence and Space showed work on the runway on reclaimed parts of Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly archipelago, which China contests with the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.
It said images from earlier in March showed reclamation work on Subu Reef in the Spratlys creating landmasses that, if joined together, could create space for another 3,000-meter (3,281-yard) airstrip.
The report said other images suggested China was working to extend another airstrip to that length in the Paracel Islands further north in the potentially energy-rich South China Sea, a vital shipping route through which $5 trillion of trade passes every year.
The report comes a day after the US military commander for Asia, Admiral Samuel Locklear, said China, which claims most of the South China Sea, could eventually deploy radar and missile systems on outposts it is building that could be used to enforce an exclusion zone should it move to declare one.
