Beijing lodges counterprotest against Japan's accusation of radar lock-ins

The Japanese government confirmed it lodged a protest against the Chinese military aircraft's radar lock-ins on its fighter jets over the weekend.

This, adding to the tensions between the East Asian neighbours, stirred up by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's Taiwan remarks.

The Foreign Ministry in Beijing, meanwhile, slammed Japan's hyping up of false information in military and security and has lodged its own counterprotests.

The Liaoning carrier strike group has conducted flight drills of carrier-based fighter jets while sailing into international waters off Japan's southwest island chain.

Japan's Defense Ministry said they spotted around 100 take-offs from the carrier near Okinawa, and that the Chinese J-15 had intermittently locked radar on Japanese F-15 fighter jets in two sessions on Saturday.

Sanae Takaichi later called the incident "extremely disappointing."

She vowed to act calmly and resolutely, while doing utmost in carrying out surveillance operations around Japan's waters and airspace.

On Monday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said "The Self Defense Force were maintaining safe distance during their mission," as he responded to China's claim that the SDF aircraft posed a serious obstruction to the safe flight of a Chinese aircraft.

The official stressed the "dangerous" radar illumination was going beyond what is necessary for the aircraft's safe operation.

An emergency meeting was held on the same day where senior officials from the ruling party expressed concerns that the incident could signal heightened security risk from China.

Tokyo has summoned Chinese Ambassador Wu Jianghao over the issue and demanded strict preventive measures.

Chinese authorities have roundly rejected the accusations from the Japanese side.

A Foreign Ministry spokesman today condemned the Japanese fighter jets' close-in reconnaissance and interference of China's normal military exercises, pointing out they had intruded into the training area without authorisation.

Guo Jiakun defended the activation of search radar during carrier-based aircraft flight training, which he says is "a common practice in all countries and a normal operation to ensure flight safety."

Japan's preemptive accusation of "radar illumination" was distorting the truth and shifting blame with ulterior motives, Guo contended.

The spokesman further pressed Japan to immediately halt all "irresponsible disinformation and political manipulation" that mislead the international community.