TOKYO/BEIJING (Kyodo) -- Japan scrambled fighter jets from its Air Self-Defense Force on Thursday after a total of 13 airplanes were spotted flying through the Miyako Strait between Japan's southern islands of Okinawa and Miyako, the Defense Ministry said.
It was the largest number of foreign planes Japan has scrambled jets for since 2003 when data became available, according to the ministry.
Chinese aircraft flew on the route for the first time since last Dec. 10 but they did not violate Japanese airspace, it said.
China's Xinhua News Agency said the numerous aircraft involved in the exercise linked up with a Chinese naval fleet in the western Pacific.
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