- Day of tension starts with shots fired, ends with protests and denials
- Disputed islands at centre of airspace allegations
Tensions in East Asia escalated on Tuesday after Russia, Japan, South Korea and China deployed fighter jets to the Sea of Japan " also known as East Sea " leading Seoul to fire hundreds of warning shots amid protests and denials among three of the nations involved.
South Korea and Japan accused Russia of violating their air space after Russian A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft entered into airspace claimed by both Seoul and Tokyo, but Russia denied the allegations, saying it was merely conducting its first-ever patrol, with China, over the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan.
The day of regional tensions began early on Tuesday when South Korea's defence ministry said its jets fired 360 warning shots after the Russian bomber flew over the Dokdo islets, called Takeshima by Japan, which also claims them.
Three Russian military planes " two Tu-95 bombers and one A-50 airborne early warning and control aircraft " initially entered South Korea's air defence identification zone off its east coast before the A-50 plane entered the country's territorial skies, South Korea's Defence Ministry said.
South Korea fires 360 warning shots at Russian, Chinese planes
The Russian plane left the area but later returned, South Korea said. Adding to the complexity of the situation, two Russian Tu-95 bombers and two Chinese warplanes also entered South Korea's air defence identification zone on Tuesday. In response, South Korea summoned Russian and Chinese diplomats to lodge a protest.
The Chinese foreign ministry said it had no information on the incident, but added that an air defence identification zone was not air space.
Hours after Seoul's protest, Japan criticised South Korea, saying it should be Tokyo rather than Seoul taking action against Moscow. Tokyo said it had lodged protests with both Seoul and Moscow.
"Takeshima is Japan's territory," Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono told a news conference. "It is Japan that should take action against the Russian plane that entered its airspace. It is incompatible with Japan's stance that South Korea has taken steps on that."
Japan's self defence force said it had scrambled fighter jets to deal with the Russian Tu-95 bombers and two other Chinese H-6 bombers, which also entered Japan's air defence identification zone over the East China Sea but did not enter the airspace claimed by both Japan and South Korea.
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But Russia's defence ministry denied it was violating any nation's airspace. It said Russian and Chinese long-range military aircraft had conducted their first-ever joint air patrol over the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea.
"The flights took place over a pre-planned route, and they did not violate the airspace of any country," a ministry statement said, adding that the patrol took place within the framework of Russian-Chinese military cooperation and did not target any country.
The ministry also said South Korean fighters fired no warning shots, but accused two South Korean F-16 fighters of "non-professional" manoeuvres, traversing the course of Russian strategic missile carriers and creating a threat to their security.
South Korea and Japan are locked in a trade war, with Tokyo imposing restrictions on exports of three chemical ingredients to South Korea. The two nations are also in dispute over the legacy of Japan's colonial rule over the Korean peninsula before the end of the second world war.
China has been more eager to flex its military muscles amid its rising confrontation with the United States and recently vowed to improve military ties with Russia, as a counterbalance to US power.
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Ryo Hinata-Yamaguchi, a visiting professor at Pusan National University in South Korea, said much remained unknown about the joint patrol by China and Russia.
"But it could be interpreted as a joint effort to counterbalance the US and its allies in the region while also testing Japan and South Korea's reaction, particularly with the deteriorating state of relations between Seoul and Tokyo and contentions over the islets that the Russian A-50 aircraft flew close to," he said.
Observers said Chinese military aircraft could be expected to enter South Korea's air defence territory more frequently as Beijing strengthened its presence in the East China Sea and increased its monitoring of US activities. But military analysts believed a confrontation between Beijing and Seoul was unlikely.
An air defence identification zone (ADIZ) is not covered by international treaties but is declared by a state for the early identification and location of foreign planes approaching its territorial airspace.
There has been a partial overlap between South Korean and Chinese declared zones over the East China Sea since 2013, when Seoul extended its ADIZ to cover a newly declared zone by Beijing, in response to rising tensions between China and Japan, over sovereignty of the disputed waters.
Yue Gang, a retired People's Liberation Army colonel, said this overlap would inevitably lead to more encounters between the two countries' warplanes.
"We have our missions in the East China Sea and the Sea of Japan," he said. "Our military aircraft will pass through the ADIZ when carrying out these missions, but it is unlikely there will be confrontation between South Korea and China. The ADIZ is not airspace."
Shanghai-based military affairs commentator Ni Lexiong said China was stepping up its monitoring of US military activities over the East China Sea.
"It is also a message to South Korea, a US ally, that we are here, so don't get too close to the US, especially amid the China-US trade war," he said.
Additional reporting by Associated Press and Reuters
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