No Specific Info Given by China Prior to Radar Incident: Koizumi

Tokyo, Dec. 10 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi said Wednesday that China did not provide the Japanese side with any specific prior notice regarding the training of aircraft deployed on the Chinese aircraft carrier Liaoning, during which Japanese fighter jets were targeted with radar beams. Koizumi told an extraordinary press conference that there had been no specific information on the training, such as its scale or location, prior to it taking place. “We did not have enough information about the training for us to avoid danger,” the minister said. The minister made the comments after a Chinese media outlet on Tuesday released what it claimed was audio data showing the country’s navy notifying Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force of the training in advance. The disclosure came at a time when tensions between Japan and China are growing following the Japanese Defense Ministry’s announcement Sunday of the Chinese military’s aiming of radar at Japanese jets. The media outlet reported that a Chinese military aircraft also detected radar from the ASDF plane. Koizumi denied this, saying, “There is no fact that we used radar.” At a separate press conference the same day, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara said, “The real issue lies in the fact that while our country was taking appropriate measures against airspace violations, the Chinese side used radar (for Japanese fighter jets) intermittently over a period of some 30 minutes.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]