ALERT! Japan scrambles jets over Chinese flight

Japan says it scrambled fighter jets after eight Chinese military aircraft flew between Japanese isles.

The airplanes, believed to be surveillance airplanes bombers and one fighter jet jet, flew between Okinawa and Miyakojima, along the Miyako Straits.

The move will be seen as a display of force by China, although the airplanes failed to cross into Japanese airspace.

It comes one week after Japan said it’d participate in joint training exercises in the South China Sea with the US navy.

Japan’s top government spokesman said Japan would be observing China’s military movements carefully.

Tokyo will “continue to devote every attempt to vigilance and surveillance and rigorously enforce measures against intrusions into our airspace according to international law and the self defence forces law”, said Yoshihide Suga.

It really is also close to several islands in the East China Sea which are claimed by both China and Japan.

While China calls them the Diaoyu Islands, Japan, which controls the islands, calls them Senkaku.