Chinese Bombers Fly between Southern Japan Islands

Tokyo, May 21 (Jiji Press)--The Japanese Defense Ministry said Thursday that two Chinese bombers flew over open seas between Okinawa Prefecture's main island and the island of Miyakojima, prompting the Air Self-Defense Force to scramble fighter jets. The bombers did not violate Japanese airspace, the ministry said. It was the first time for Chinese aircraft to fly between the southern Japan islands since February. According to the ministry's Joint Staff Office, two H-6 bombers of the Chinese military flew over the East China Sea to the Pacific Ocean for several hours from Thursday morning to afternoon and then traveled back on the same route and flew toward China. In response to the incident, the ASDF dispatched F-15 fighter jets from its base in Naha, the capital of the southernmost Japan prefecture. Meanwhile, Shen Jinke, a spokesman for the People's Liberation Army Air Force, said in Beijing that the Chinese air force planes conducted pelagic training, entering over the western Pacific Ocean from over the Miyako Strait. It was part of a training plan for this fiscal year and is conformity with international law, he stressed, adding that the training did not focus on specific nation, region or target. The spokesman did not mention the scrambling of the ASDF fighters. END