The territorial violation by China is the latest in a series of events amplifying tensions between Beijing and Japan.

A Chinese military surveillance plane breached Japanese airspace off the country’s southwestern coast on Monday, marking what Japan’s defense ministry described as the first known incursion by China’s military into its territorial airspace.

According to a ministry official, a Chinese reconnaissance aircraft briefly entered Japanese territory near Nagasaki Prefecture around 11:30 a.m. on Monday. In response, Japan’s Self-Defense Force put fighter jets on high alert and issued a warning to the Chinese aircraft.

While Chinese planes frequently appear in international airspace around Japan, this incident represents the first confirmed entry of a military aircraft into Japan’s territorial airspace.

  • @UnderpantsWeevil
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    -3518 days ago

    Then it seems like there’s a leap of logic between “cargo plane” and “reconnaissance aircraft”. Very possible it was just an inexperienced/behind schedule pilot cutting corners on the route.

    Seems like a dick move to kill an entire plane full of people because someone decided to short-cut through your airspace.

    • @NOT_RICK
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      2918 days ago

      Very possible it was just an inexperienced/behind schedule pilot cutting corners on the route.

      In a vacuum, maybe. In the context of how China has been acting towards nearly all of their neighbors recently, not likely. This reeks of wolf warrior diplomacy.

      • @UnderpantsWeevil
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        -3718 days ago

        In the context of how China has been acting towards nearly all of their neighbors

        The Western reporting coverage of Chinese military operations is slanted to paint China as an aggressor, in the same way Western reporting of Iraq in the early 2000s was slanted to paint Iraqis as terrorists.

        You don’t read about American military aircraft invading Japanese airspace because Japan is occupied territory. You don’t read about Taiwanese aircraft invading Chinese airspace, because there’s no defined territorial line between them on account of Taiwan being contested territory.

        This reeks of wolf warrior diplomacy.

        China sending a single Rambo-esque supersoldier in to liberate native peoples from an evil mercenary army?

        • @cm0002
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          18 days ago

          The Western reporting coverage of Chinese military operations is slanted to paint China as an aggressor

          China is literally aggressive in both active and passive ways, maybe some news outlets are exaggerating a little for clicks, but it’s not by much

          You don’t read about American military aircraft invading Japanese airspace because Japan is occupied territory.

          Japan isn’t “occupied territory” they are a US ally who allows us to have a base there for rapid response and protection.

          You don’t read about Taiwanese aircraft invading Chinese airspace, because there’s no defined territorial line between them on account of Taiwan being contested territory.

          Lol, nah, Taiwan is a country the only one contesting it is China in the same way that Russia is “contesting” that Ukraine is their territory.

          This reeks of wolf warrior diplomacy.

          China sending a single Rambo-esque supersoldier in to liberate native peoples from an evil mercenary army?

          1. It’s called strategic boundary pushing China has been known to do such things with their other neighbors

          2. You reek of a China apologist

          • @UnderpantsWeevil
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            -2618 days ago

            China is literally aggressive in both active and passive ways

            Are we doing the “Chinese Weather Balloon” hysteria again?

            Japan isn’t “occupied territory” they are a US ally

            Starting in which year?

            Taiwan is a country the only one contesting it is China

            Where does Taiwanese airspace end and Chinese airspace begin? Would it surprise you to discover that Taiwan claims airspace over the south end of China?

            I know folks on here love making the “East Taiwan” joke, but are you seriously going to argue that Xiamen and Fuzhou are also part of Taiwan?

            It’s called strategic boundary pushing

            • @assassin_aragorn
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              1918 days ago

              Are we doing the “Chinese Weather Balloon” hysteria again?

              If the US sent a bunch of weather balloons into Chinese airspace without any warning and they approached government and military sites, would you say the same thing?

              Without explicit permission from the government it is a breach of sovereignty. The US had the right to annihilate all of those balloons the instant they passed into US airspace – just like China has the right to destroy the hypothetical US balloons as soon as they pass into Chinese airspace.

              For how often China beats the drum about sovereignty, they should know this.

              • @UnderpantsWeevil
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                -1318 days ago

                If the US sent a bunch of weather balloons into Chinese airspace without any warning

                China claimed Monday that the United States flew spy balloons into Chinese airspace more than 10 times since January 2022 without Beijing’s permission, accusations that further ratcheted up tensions between the two countries amid mutual allegations of surveillance.

                The US had the right to annihilate all of those balloons the instant they passed into US airspace

                The US feds panicked at the bad press and created a rain of falling debris over South Carolina. Heck of a job.

                • @[email protected]
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                  117 days ago

                  It was over the waters of South Carolina since recovery was paramount. If they panicked theyd of shot it down over cow landia somewhere in the great planes.

                • @assassin_aragorn
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                  17 days ago

                  And China would’ve been completely in the right if they shot those balloons down. It was a violation of their sovereignty. An ironic one, considering China did it first, but nonetheless, it enters their airspace without permission. China would be totally justified in shooting them down. I’m not sure why you think this is some sort of gotcha.

                  Additionally, they didn’t panic at bad press. They were waiting for the balloon to clear land so that when they shot it down, the debris wouldn’t rain down on anyone.

                  Once again, if these were truly just weather balloons for research, the university conducting the research and the Chinese government are incredibly negligent for not at least informing the US. For innocuous scientific research, there should be no problem with open communication.

            • @NOT_RICK
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              18 days ago

              Why does this picture place a US military base in Hong Kong?

              Edit: also, identification zone =/= claimed airspace

            • @cm0002
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              518 days ago

              Are we doing the “Chinese Weather Balloon” hysteria again?

              Ah yea, when people are concerned when a near-hostile country sends over unknown aircraft unannounced it’s just “hysteria”. Not like those weather balloons are perfectly capable of carrying bombs or biowarfare contagions or anything…

              Starting in which year?

              April 28, 1952 when the San Francisco Peace Treaty that was signed on September 8, 1951 went into effect.

              Here’s a wikipedia article all about US-Japan relations since you appear to have flunked highschool history

              • @UnderpantsWeevil
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                -117 days ago

                a near-hostile country sends over unknown aircraft

                A country’s biggest trading partner losing control of a very-well-established-as-weather-balloon aircraft.

                April 28, 1952 when the San Francisco Peace Treaty that was signed on September 8, 1951 went into effect.

                https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_Course

                Fascinating stuff for a fully democratic and not-at-all militarily occupied country to undergo. If you’re into Wikipedia articles, you should give it a read. Full consolidation of economic power under a few US-loyal Zaibatsus that dominate the country into the modern day. Rearming of a police force loyal to the occupying US government, which was dedicated to busting up unions and crippling the nascent labor-rights movement in the country. And rapid expansion of military bases, in the run up to the US invasion and aerial bombardment of the Korean Peninsula.

        • @[email protected]
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          1618 days ago

          You don’t read about American military aircraft invading Japanese airspace because Japan is occupied territory.

          Least delusional tankie

        • @NOT_RICK
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          1518 days ago

          China’s actions paint them as an aggressor.

          You’re right that you don’t read about the US military invading Japanese territory as they are invited by the Japanese government. Countries are free to repeal that invitation just like Niger.

          And no, I’m not referencing a movie.

        • @scarabic
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          418 days ago

          Dude what? China’s near-daily incursions over Taiwan have escalated and escalated to an objectively ridiculous level. Nobody “painting” shit.

          • @UnderpantsWeevil
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            017 days ago

            China’s near-daily incursions over Taiwan

            This is what we’re defining as an “incursion over Taiwan”.

    • @ForgotAboutDre
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      1018 days ago

      Not a mistake anyone would make accidentally. They wouldn’t be allowed to fly near hostile territory without being well informed of the risks and consequences. This was a planned and deliberate action, or Chinas airforce is incompetent and can’t be trusted.

      Both are dangerous and shouldn’t be tolerated in your territory.

      • @UnderpantsWeevil
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        -918 days ago

        Not a mistake anyone would make accidentally.

        It’s a routine mistake that happens regularly, particularly when there is a large amount of traffic and a crop of younger personal.

        Both are dangerous and shouldn’t be tolerated in your territory.

        We’ve flipped from “China is being too hostile” to “The US isn’t being hostile enough”.

        But it turns out they’re two sides of the same coin. Americans simply can’t get enough war.

          • ℍ𝕂-𝟞𝟝
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            217 days ago

            Don’t you know that all the bad that’s happening in the world, and I mean all of it, not some of it, not a lot of it, but ALL of it is the sole responsibility of the Great Satan?

            And that all bad things are either done by the US, done by a US ally - forced to by the US as all US allies are occupied territories and have no agency - or exists solely in US propaganda, as countries free of US influence can never do bad?

        • ℍ𝕂-𝟞𝟝
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          217 days ago

          It’s a routine mistake that happens regularly

          Lol no, shitty private student pilots with tens of hours of experience don’t break airspace, and I’m not talking about airspace boundaries between states, but about random ones within countries that you can request and get in a week and like 100 EUR.

          Every single flight starts with a briefing on what airspaces you need to avoid, and what measures you will take to avoid them. At least if Chinese jet pilots have half the discipline of a Romanian crop duster.

    • limonfiesta
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      18 days ago

      Possible, but these are also the type of aircraft you would expect to see in mass during any naval conflict or blockading action against China. I believe the PLAAF/PLAN are working on their version of Rapid Dragon.

      Relatively slow, but plentiful, cargo planes, would be a pretty obvious choice for launching a saturation attack against USN or Japanese forces operating outside the range of their land based missiles. Again, assuming they develop a similar system to Rapid Dragon.