Japan's Ministry of Defense said on June 11 that earlier in the day two armed Chinese fighter jets Su-27UBK flew unusually close to two Japan Self Defense Force planes, specifically the YS-11EB surveillance plane and the OP-3C data collecting plane, above the East China Sea where the two countries' air defense identification zones (ADIZ) overlap.
Itsunori Onodera, Japan's defense minister, said that the government has lodged a protest with China through diplomatic channels, according to a report by Japan's Kyodo News. The Chinese jets came within 30 meters of the Japan Air SDF's YS-11EB and 45 meters of the Japan Maritime SDF's OP-3C. The Chinese jets did not infringe upon Japanese airspace, however, according to Duowei, a news agency run by overseas Chinese
The two Chinese Sukhoi Su-27s carried two mid-range R-77 missiles and one R-73 missile each. So far the Chinese government has not responded to the June 11 incident.
This is the second incident involving the Chinese military planes and Japanese SDF aircraft in recent months. The first incident occurred on May 24, when two Japanese drones were said to have entered China's South (East) China Sea ADIZ and interfered with a joint Sino-Russian military drill. China says it then dispatched military planes in a defensive move, but that this was construed by Japan as Chinese military planes flying "too close" to Japanese military planes on May 25 and 26, Duowei reported.
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