Associated Press,
Japan has scrambled fighter jets more than 100 times this year to intercept suspected Chinese spy planes approaching Japanese air space, a top general said Thursday, amid growing concern in Tokyo over China's recent arms buildup.
The 107 times alerts in the first three months of the year _ the most in at least a decade _ marked a dramatic increase from the previous year, when fighters scrambled only 13 times against Chinese planes, said Gen. Hajime Massaki, chairman of the Joint Staff Committee.
“Chinese activities in areas around Japanese territory have reached unprecedented levels,” Massaki told a press conference.
“We believe these planes to be engaging in information-gathering activity, and behind the trend is the rapid modernization of China's military,” he said.
The bulk of the incidents took place over the East China Sea, where the two countries are feuding over gas deposits and an island chain, according to the Joint Staff.
Beijing was quick to rebuff Tokyo's allegations.
“China's national defense, especially the air force, operates for the purpose of maintaining our national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a regular briefing.
“All these operations are justified and normal,” he said, adding he couldn't comment further because he had not studied Japan's announcement.
China has announced double-digit spending increases for its 2.5 million-member military nearly every year since the early 1990s. Japan's Defense Agency lists China's military expansion as a top security concern in the region, and Foreign Minister Taro Aso has repeatedly called China a threat — drawing angry protests from Beijing.
Though linked by billions of dollars in trade, relations between the two neighbors have plunged to their lowest level in decades over a spate of disputes.
Earlier this year, Japan accused China of using spies to pry state secrets from a Japanese diplomat in Shanghai, ultimately driving him to suicide in 2004. China has angrily denied the claims.
The two powers are also feuding over undersea gas and oil deposits, territory and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's repeated visits to a war shrine criticized for its strong links to past Japanese militarism. Beijing has refused top-level talks since Koizumi's last visit in October 2005.
Rocky relations threaten to destabilize a region already tense over North Korea's nuclear weapons program, as well as a recent territorial standoff between Tokyo and Seoul.
South Korea has dispatched 20 gunboats near disputed islets in the Japan Sea to intercept two Japanese vessels that plan to study the area. Seoul warned Thursday of a possible confrontation at sea unless Japan abandons its survey.
Tokyo claims the islets are an integral part of Japan's territory, and that the survey is for scientific purposes.
