TOKYO — Japan said early Sunday that it has protested to China after a military jet that took off from the Chinese carrier Liaoning locked its radar on Japanese fighter jets near the southern island of Okinawa, the latest spat between the two countries whose ties have plunged recently over the Japanese leader's Taiwan remarks.
Japan's Defense Ministry said China's military aircraft J-15 ''intermittently'' targeted its radar at Japanese F-15 fighter jets on two occasions Saturday — for about three minutes in the late afternoon and for about 30 minutes in the evening.
The radar lock by the Chinese aircraft was detected by different Japanese fighters that had scrambled against a possible airspace violation by China, according to the ministry. There was no breach of Japanese airspace, and no injury or damage was reported from the incident.
It was not known whether the radar lock incident involved the same Chinese J-15 both times.
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, briefing reporters in the early hours of Sunday, said Japan protested to China over the radar lock, calling it ''a dangerous act that exceeded the scope necessary for safe aircraft operations.''
''The occurrence of such an incident is extremely regrettable,'' Koizumi said. ''We have lodged a strong protest with the Chinese side and demanded strict preventive measures.''
The latest incident comes as relations between the two countries have worsened in recent weeks.
China was angered by a statement by Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in early November that its military could get involved if China were to take action against Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing says must come under its rule.
