Flights over sea 'routine training' (China)

Beijing on Thursday dismissed Japan's complaints of a Chinese military aircraft flying through international airspace near Japan's southern islands, saying it was not the first time a Chinese aircraft had conducted legal training in the western Pacific.

The flyover on Wednesday was part of the Chinese navy's routine training and "does not target any specific country or have any specific aim", Geng Yansheng, a defense ministry spokesman, said at a monthly news conference.

"The training is in accordance with international law and practice, and China has the legal right and freedom of flight over the relevant seas," he said. "We have had several such training exercises there before."

Japan's Defense Ministry on Wednesday scrambled fighter jets to keep watch on a Chinese Y-8 early-warning plane flying over international waters between Okinawa's main island and an outer island relatively close to the Diaoyu Islands, which both countries claim, in the East China Sea.

Japanese Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera said on Wednesday that the flight was "a sign of China's escalating maritime advance".

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, before leaving for Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines, where he was believed to discuss ways to contain China, said: "It was an unusual action that we have never seen before. We'll keep monitoring with great interest".

China-Japan ties have been strained since Tokyo illegally "nationalized" part of the Diaoyu Islands last September.

Observers said Japan is flaring up "Chinese threats" as an excuse for beefing up military power, and has increased the risks of conflict by challenging Chinese legal rights in international airspace and high seas.

According to the so-called PLA's routine aircraft flight schedule: Chinese jets are expected to fly into Singapore airspace at the same moment Biden visits the city-state, and it will just so happen to occur when Crazy Joe will be giving a speech about how Bathhouse Barry's Rainbow Warriors pivot to Asia.

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