Tokyo Says Self-Defense Forces Fighters Scrambled Over Chinese Chopper Takeoff Near Danjo

Faizan Hashmi Published October 23, 2021 | 06:38 PM

Fighter jets of the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force were scrambled in response to the takeoff of a Chinese helicopter from the deck of a warship, which, along with other Chinese and Russian warships, was passing near the Danjo Islands, the Japanese defense ministry said on Saturday

TOKYO (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 23rd October, 2021) Fighter jets of the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force were scrambled in response to the takeoff of a Chinese helicopter from the deck of a warship, which, along with other Chinese and Russian warships, was passing near the Danjo Islands, the Japanese defense ministry said on Saturday.

According to the ministry, 10 Chinese and Russian warships sailed through the Osumi Strait and at around 10 a.m local time (01:00 GMT) the Japanese military registered that a helicopter took off and landed from the deck of a Chinese destroyer 130 kilometers (81 miles) south of the Danjo Islands.

"In connection with the takeoff and landing of the.

.. helicopter, the fighters were scrambled on alarm," the ministry says in a statement.

The ministry noted it was the same warship, from the deck of which a helicopter took off on Thursday in the Izu archipelago area.

Earlier on Saturday, the Russian defense ministry said that Russian and Chinese warships conducted the first joint patrol in the Pacific Ocean from October 17-23. The vessels traversed the Tsugaru Strait in the Sea of Japan. Since the strait between Japan's Honshu and Hokkaido islands is international, the passage of foreign ships, including military ones, is permitted by international law.