Chinese, Russian fighter planes fly over Sea of Japan

Tokyo: Japan scrambled its fighter jets and sent official protests to both Russia and China over their joint military aircraft flight over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea on Tuesday, Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi said.
“On Tuesday, starting from the first half of the day until the second half, we confirmed the overflights of Russian and Chinese military aircraft over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea. In this regard, fighters of the country’s air self-defense forces were scrambled,” Kishi said at a press conference.
Six Russian and Chinese aircraft participated in the overflights. This was the first joint flight of the Chinese and Russian armed forces since November last year.
“This is a demonstrative act against Japan. And the provocation of these actions is as high as ever before,” Kishi said, adding that the Japanese government has “sent protests to Russia and China through diplomatic channels.”
Earlier in the day, the Russian Defense Ministry said that Russian Aerospace Forces and the Air Force of China conducted joint air patrols in the Asia-Pacific region as part of the implementation of the provisions of the military cooperation plan for 2022 adding that the event is not directed against third countries (UNI)