%2Boverlap.jpg)
Japan should immediately stop its surveillance of Chinese aircraft near disputed waters in the East China Sea to avoid tensions from escalating, though the chances of a military conflict between the two countries remains extremely slim, says the Beijing-based Sina Military Network.
The Jan. 21 commentary comes amid a new report from the Joint Staff Office of Japan's Ministry of Defense which reported that fighter jets of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force scrambled 164 times in the last quarter of 2014, breaking the previous record of 146 in the first quarter of 2013. Moreover, the total number of Japanese scrambles involving Chinese aircraft between April and December 2014 reached 371.
The numbers are believed to have spiked because more than 10 Chinese battleships and 20 large aircraft, including six strategic bombers, reportedly traveled back and forth along the Miyako Strait in southern Japan's Okinawa prefecture numerous times in December, prompting Japan to deploy fighters and surveillance aircraft in response.
Sina Military blames the increasing scrambles on Japan's "overbearing" Air Defense Identification Zone for encroaching into Chinese territory, including Chinese oilfields in the East China Sea. The report omitted to mention that China set up its own controversial ADIZ in the East China Sea in November 2013 which overlaps with about half of Japan's.
Read the full story at Want China Times