Defense & Security

LDP Commissions Criticize China over Radar Incident, Demand Japan Act Decisively

The Yomiuri Shimbun

16:35 JST, December 8, 2025

The Liberal Democratic Party’s research commissions demanded the government react decisively following an incident on Saturday in which Chinese aircraft directed their radar at Air Self-Defense Force fighter jets.

The party’s Security Research Commission, Foreign Affairs Research Commission and others held an emergency joint meeting on Monday morning during which they criticized China for committing the dangerous act, which occurred over international waters southeast of Okinawa Island.

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The commissions also demanded that the government convey the legitimacy of Japan’s position.

At the start of the meeting, LDP Policy Research Council Chairman Takayuki Kobayashi criticized China for the “extremely dangerous act that could have sparked an accidental incident.”

China has insisted that Japan’s SDF aircraft “repeatedly approached and disrupted the training zones of the Chinese aircraft carrier task group, seriously affecting the normal operations and posing a serious threat to the flight safety.”

In response, Kobayashi said: “The view put forward by China is completely at odds with Japan’s position. We must react decisively.”

At the meeting, about ten lawmakers were debriefed by the defense and foreign ministries regarding the sequence of events surrounding Saturday’s incident.

Security Research Commission Chairman Itsunori Onodera told reporters after the meeting that attendees had voiced opinions such as, “We must not lose in this diplomatic battle.”

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara at Monday’s press conference said that SDF aircraft had maintained a safe distance from Chinese military aircraft and that China’s claim that Japan seriously impeded the safe flight of the Chinese aircraft is inaccurate.

Kihara also said that China’s directing of its radar was “a dangerous act exceeding the necessary scope for a safe flight, and it is extremely regrettable that such an incident occurred.”