AFP, TOKYO: A Chinese military spy plane was spotted twice last month off southern Japan amid high tensions between the two nations, a news report said Tuesday.
Kyodo News, citing unnamed sources in a dispatch from Washington, said the plane flying in Japanese airspace could likely catch radio waves and electronic data from Japanese warships or military facilities.
China has never confirmed the existence of such a plane but the US Defense Department believes Beijing is focusing on “electronic warfare” as it expands its military spending, the report said.
It said the plane was spotted off twice in August over the East China Sea south of mainland Japan's southern island of Kyushu.
Japan's Defense Agency is aware of the report but had no immediate comment, a spokesman said.
The report came shortly after Japan said for the first time that it spotted Chinese warships near a disputed gas field in the East China Sea.
The five ships, including a destroyer, were seen Friday just on China's side of what Japan considers the dividing line in the sea. China does not recognize the line.
The ship incident came two days before a general election that saw a landslide victory for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, who has presided over deteriorating relations with China since coming to office in 2001.
Koizumi's government in July gave permission for the first time to a company to explore the gas fields, angering China, which began drilling unilaterally in 2003.
Koizumi has also infuriated Beijing by visiting a shrine that honors Japanese war dead including convicted World War II war criminals.
Both Japan and the United States have recently expressed concern about China's growing military spending.
