Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun

It is clear to all with sensible minds it is completely ill-intentioned for Japanese side to deliberately disseminate and hype the misinformation in the field of military security, building up tensions at this time, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun said on Monday, commenting on question concerning the Japanese side's claim of Chinese Navy carrier-based aircraft conducting "radar illumination" on Japanese SDF fighter jets.

Guo stated at the Monday press conference that China has stated its serious position on the issue. The facts are very clear, he said. Chinese side's conduct of exercises and training activities in the relevant sea and airspace fully conforms to international law and international practice, with all operations being professional and standard, and beyond reproach. It is a common practice of all countries for carrier-borne aircraft to turn on their search radars during flight training, which is also a normal operation to ensure flight safety.

Guo stated that the key to the incident lies in that Japanese fighter jets unauthorizedly intruded into the Chinese side's exercise and training area, conducted close-in reconnaissance and interference with Chinese military activities, and then played the victim by hyping up the so-called "radar illumination" issue, confusing right and wrong, shifting the blame onto others, and misleading international public opinion. China is strongly dissatisfied with and firmly opposed to this, and has lodged serious representations and strong protest with the Japanese side. 

We strongly urge the Japanese side to immediately stop its dangerous moves of harassing China's normal military exercise and training, and stop all irresponsible disinformation, the spokesperson said. 


Global Times