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Amber Wang

Japan and South Korea scrambled fighter jets in response to a joint Russian-Chinese bomber patrol on Saturday.
The People’s Liberation Army Air Force said the patrols passed over the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea and the western Pacific, adding that they showed the two countries’ resolve and ability to safeguard regional peace and stability.
It was the 11th patrol of this kind since 2019, but the first this year.
Japan’s defence ministry said it had tracked two separate flights involving Chinese H-6 bombers and Russian Tu-95 strategic bombers.
It added that Chinese J-16 fighter jets, Russian Tu-142 maritime patrol aircraft and a Russian Su-30 fighter had accompanied the bombers.
A flight map released by the ministry showed some of the aircraft had flown through the Miyako Strait, a key waterway between Okinawa and the Miyako Islands that provides access to the western Pacific from the East China Sea.
South Korea said it had scrambled fighters after more than 10 Chinese and Russian military aircraft entered its air defence identification zone, according to Yonhap News Agency. The aircraft did not violate South Korean airspace, the report added.
Yuyuan Tantian, a social media account affiliated with Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, confirmed that the warplanes had passed over the Miyako Strait.
The last Chinese-Russian bomber patrol in the area in December triggered protests from both Japan and South Korea.


Saturday’s patrol came at a time when relations between Beijing and Tokyo remain under heavy strain after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said last year that any attack on Taiwan might trigger Japanese military intervention.
Beijing regards Taiwan as part of China and has never renounced the use of force to reunite it with the mainland.
Japan and South Korea, in common with most countries, do not recognise the island as an independent state.
Tokyo’s efforts to strengthen its military have triggered further protests from Beijing.
Earlier this month, China accused Japanese warplanes and ships of committing multiple “provocations” while surveilling a PLA carrier group’s exercises in the western Pacific.
Elsewhere on Saturday, Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi became the first foreign minister to visit the Wonju Air Base while carrying out a tour with his South Korean counterpart Ahn Gyu-back.


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Tokyo says it had tracked two separate flights involving H-6 and Tu-95 bombers, some of which passed over the western Pacific


Tokyo says it had tracked two separate flights involving H-6 and Tu-95 bombers, some of which passed over the western Pacific.


Japan

South Korea

Russia

Japan and South Korea scramble fighters in response to Chinese-Russian bomber patrol

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Tokyo says it had tracked two separate flights involving H-6 and Tu-95 bombers, some of which passed over the western Pacific

Tokyo says it had tracked two separate flights involving H-6 and Tu-95 bombers, some of which passed over the western Pacific