China has accused Japan—a United States treaty ally in Northeast Asia—of sending spy planes to its so-called Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) over the contested East China Sea. The remarks from Beijing come after Tokyo said YS-11EB intelligence-gathering aircraft had experienced
close aerial encounters with
Chinese planes while conducting surveillance over the region last week.
Japan forms part of a defensive island line known as the
First Island Chain under a U.S. containment strategy that aims to restrict
China's military activities in its immediate waters, including the
East China Sea, which lies off China's eastern coast and separates it from Japan.
