Japan Scrambles Jets as China Conducts Carrier Aircraft Operations in East China Sea

In a massive show of force, the Chinese aircraft carrier, ‘Liaoning’ was seen conducting aircraft & helicopter take-off and landing operations close to the Japanese coast in the East China Sea.

The Japanese Ministry of Defense (MoD) said that Air Self-Defense fighters had been scrambled in response, though there were no reported violations of Japanese airspace.

Japan’s Defense Ministry released a statement Sunday stating that  the  Liaoning aircraft carrier together with support ships was noticed doing practice deploying of fighter jets some 200 kilometers from the Japanese-administered Senkaku Islands.

The statement from the Defense Ministry’s Joint Staff Office said that the Chinese carrier was sailing alongside four destroyers in the waters north of Kuba Island in the Senkaku chain, which is also claimed by Beijing, where the islets are known as the Diaoyu.

 China, Japan claim Senkakus Islands

Japan nationalized the Senkakus in 2012 and has also agreed with the United States that they are covered under Article 5 of the U.S.-Japan security treaty, which obliges the U.S. to defend Japanese territories.

“While the Japanese side effectively controls the islands, China has worked to establish a track record of “law enforcement” activities around the Senkakus as part of a concerted effort to press its claim to the area, which is rich in fish stocks and is also believed to be home to oil and gas deposits,” Japan Times wrote Monday.

Japan has been on high alert after a China Coast Guard helicopter violated Japan’s territorial airspace around the Senkakus earlier this month, following a flight by a small Japanese civilian plane in the area. This was  the fourth such incursion into Japanese airspace by a Chinese aircraft and the first by a helicopter, the report said.

Sea trials of the Fujian

 China's third aircraft carrier the Fujian is holding intensive sea trials, official media recently revealed, where it is expected to test its electromagnetic catapult technologies before its eventual commissioning later this year.

As China's first aircraft carrier equipped with electromagnetic catapults, the Fujian is ramping up its sea trials, China Central Television (CCTV) News reported on Saturday.