Japan scrambles jets to head off China plane

Japan scrambled fighter jets on Saturday
to head off a Chinese state-owned plane
that flew near islands at the centre of a
dispute between Tokyo and Beijing, a
Japanese Defense Ministry spokesman
said.
The Japanese jets were mobilised after a
Chinese maritime aircraft ventured some
120 kilometres (74 miles) north of the
Senkaku islands, which China calls the
Diaoyus, at around 12:00 pm (0830 IST),
the spokesman said.
The Chinese Y-12 twin-turboprop later
left the zone without entering Japanese
airspace over the islands, he added.
It was the first time Japanese fighter jets
had been scrambled this year to counter
Chinese aircraft approaching the islands,
the spokesman said.
Japan dispatched fighter jets last month
after a Chinese state-owned plane
breached airspace over the islands, while
Chinese government ships have moved in
and out of waters there for the past few
months.
The confrontations have become
commonplace since Japan nationalised the
East China Sea islands in September, a
move it insisted amounted to nothing
more than a change of ownership of what
was already Japanese territory.
But Beijing reacted with fury, with
observers saying riots that erupted across
China in the weeks following had at least
tacit government backing.