China admits military plane 'unintentionally' entered Japan airspace

Tokyo maintains that the airspace breach in August was 'a grave violation'

20241119 china Y9 aircraft

China has explained that its Y-9 military spy plane violated Japan's airspace for a short time in August after experiencing turbulence. (Japanese Ministry of Defense) 

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- China has admitted that one of its military planes entered Japan's airspace in August but said it was unintentional and vowed to take measures to prevent similar incidents from happening again, Japanese government officials said Tuesday.

The Japanese government, despite China's explanation, maintains that the Aug. 26 incident involving the Chinese military Y-9 spy plane was an airspace breach that was "a grave violation" of the nation's sovereignty, they said.

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