Radar Directing: An Extremely Dangerous Provocation by China

Editorial

16:39 JST, December 8, 2025

This act by the Chinese Navy could lead to unforeseen events and is extremely dangerous.

China has been increasing its pressure on Japan following Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remark during Diet deliberations about a potential Taiwan contingency. However, the latest move can be said to have raised the level of provocation from an information war to military intimidation.

According to the Defense Ministry, fighter aircraft that took off from the Chinese Navy’s Liaoning aircraft carrier directed radar twice at Air Self-Defense Force F-15 fighter jets that were conducting surveillance over international waters in the western Pacific southeast of Okinawa Island.

Generally speaking, fighter jets directing radar at targets is an act second to the use of weapons. Directing radar is used not only for fire control to lock onto targets as a preparatory step for firing, but also for searching the surrounding area.

In this case, the Chinese aircraft directed radar intermittently. The first incident was said to have lasted for three minutes and the second for more than 30 minutes. It is clear that the Chinese fighter aircraft targeted the Self-Defense Forces jets.

China’s reckless act, which unilaterally heightens tensions not only between Japan and China but across the entire region, cannot be acceptable under any circumstances.

It is only natural that Japan has strongly protested to China and urged Beijing to prevent a recurrence.

On the other side, the Chinese military said in a statement that the Liaoning was conducting training for the carrier-based fighter jets. It made no mention of whether it actually directed radar at the Japanese jets, instead blaming Japan, claiming that “the Japanese Self-Defense Force’s aircraft repeatedly approached and disrupted the training zones.”

China is the one escalating tensions. It is utterly unreasonable to shift the blame onto Japan.

Recently China has frequently dispatched aircraft carriers to the western Pacific, the area where the latest incident took place. It is also reported to have deployed as many as 100 vessels in other waters. China appears to be trying to demonstrate that the western Pacific and other areas are under its influence.

Japan-China relations continue to deteriorate. In protest of Takaichi’s remark that a Taiwan contingency could constitute a survival-threatening situation for Japan, China has called on its citizens to refrain from traveling to Japan.

It has also been learned that approval procedures for exports of rare earths from China to Japanese firms are taking longer than usual.

China is apparently attempting to force Takaichi to retract her remark in the Diet by putting pressure on Japan through various means. However, if the prime minister retracts her comment, the security-related laws that allow Japan to exercise its right to collective self-defense in a limited manner would be watered down, potentially damaging the Japan-U.S. alliance.

The administration of Chinese President Xi Jinping has not ruled out the unification of Taiwan by force, and is in fact intensifying its military pressure. Japan must stress to the international community that Beijing’s stance in this regard is itself a challenge to the international order.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, Dec. 8, 2025)