Chinese Military Jet Abnormally Approaches SDF Plane Again

Jiji Press

10:46 JST, July 11, 2025

TOKYO (Jiji Press) — A Chinese military jet approached a Japanese Air Self-Defense Force reconnaissance plane as close as about 30 meters over the East China Sea on Wednesday and Thursday, Japan’s Defense Ministry said Thursday.

There was no damage to the ASDF plane or its crew. Over the incidents, the Japanese government conveyed grave concern to the Chinese side through diplomatic and defense channels and strictly demanded measures to prevent a recurrence.

This is the fourth time since June 11 that the Japanese ministry has announced an abnormal approach by a Chinese military aircraft.

According to the ministry, a JH-7 fighter-bomber of the Chinese military repeatedly approached a YS-11EB information-gathering plane of the ASDF flying over the high seas for about 15 minutes until around 11:05 a.m. Wednesday and for about 10 minutes until around 10:10 a.m. Thursday.

The distance between the two planes was as close as about 30 meters horizontally in Wednesday’s incident and about 30 meters vertically in Thursday’s.

In both incidents, the Chinese military jet approached the ASDF plane diagonally from below on the right, overtook it, and then turned and reapproached it.

The Chinese jet appeared to be equipped with a missile, but whether it was real or dummy is uncertain.

On June 7 and 8, a Chinese J-15 fighter jet from the aircraft carrier Shandong abnormally approached a Maritime SDF plane over the Pacific.