Amid escalating tensions, Beijing criticized what it deemed as 'dangerous behavior' by a Japanese military plane over the Pacific following reports of Chinese fighter jets flying unusually close to Japanese aircraft over the weekend.

The Japanese government expressed concerns to China regarding the incident, which fortunately did not result in any injuries to Japanese military personnel.

According to the Japanese defense ministry, a Chinese J-15 fighter jet from the Shandong aircraft carrier trailed a Japanese P-3C patrol plane for 40 minutes on Saturday. Subsequently, two J-15 jets repeated the maneuver for 80 minutes on Sunday.

During these encounters, the Chinese jets approached the P-3C within 45 meters on both days, as confirmed by an official from the Japanese ministry to AFP.

Furthermore, on Sunday, Chinese jets crossed airspace approximately 900 meters in front of a Japanese P-3C patrol plane at the same altitude, a distance that a P-3C can cover within seconds at cruising speed, Tokyo reported.

Japanese military's chief of staff Yoshihide Yoshida expressed skepticism about the nature of these incidents, stating, 'Given it happened for 40 minutes and 80 minutes, for two days in a row, our understanding is that it was done on purpose.'

Responding to Japan's claims, Beijing's foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian refuted the allegations, attributing the risks to the close reconnaissance of China's routine military activities by a Japanese warplane.

'The Chinese side urges the Japanese side to stop this kind of dangerous behavior,' Lin Jian emphasized.

Source: CNA