Japanese F-15 tails Chinese jet at close distance
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E-mail CNTV, June 13, 2014
It's the second time within a month that Japanese military aircraft tail-gated Chinese military jets to conduct reconnaissance. Deng Ran examines the air events from South China which have become issues of contention between the two countries.
According to the footage released by the Chinese Defense Ministry, China's Tu-154 were flying on scheduled location on June 11 when two Japanese F-15 planes began tailing them. One approached China's aircraft from left below and the other head-on. The Chinese Tu-154 was placed in a precarious position.
"The Japanese jet's wingtip was only 30 meters from the Chinese Tu-154 jet. In case of a slight error, the two planes might have collided. According to International Civil Airline Convention, military planes are not allowed to come that close because this might severely affect flight safety. So we say this is a provocative action." Chinese military expert Yin Zhuo said.
On the same day, two Japanese surveillance planes entered China's Air Defense Identification Zone over the East China Sea. Chinese Air Forces then deployed two Jian-11 planes to identify the Japanese aircraft. The Chinese planes kept to regulations and maintained a safety distance of over 150 meters.
Less than three weeks earlier on May 24th, a Japanese military plane interrupted the maritime drills conducted by China and Russia. It entered China's ADIZ without notification.
Since China announced news of its Air Defense Identification Zone in November 2013, Japanese military planes attempted to conduct more than ten acts of close surveillance on that airspace. One of the incidents took place on November 23. The Japanese jet came as close as ten meters to a Chinese plane and with the surveillance lasting over half an hour.
Experts say the video footage of the June 11 incident in the ADIZ provided clarity into the maneuvers of Japanese military aircraft. These acts and recent Japanese government accusations of China disrupting Japanese military flights -- raise risks of stoking tensions between the two countries.
