3/1/2013 HOW FAR WILL THE DRAGON SWIM?

JAPAN STARTS THE NEW MONTH BY BEING FORCED TO SCRAMBLE FIGHTER AIRCRAFT TO MEET INCOMING CHINESE IN THE ON GOING ISLAND CONTEST.

Chinese Dragons the Mainland and Taiwan Trying to Devour  Japan's  Exclusive Economic Zone

                                   

TOKYO —

Japan scrambled fighter jets on Thursday to head off a Chinese government plane flying towards disputed islands in the East China Sea, the defense ministry said.

It said the Y-12 propeller plane did not enter airspace around the Tokyo-controlled islands known as the Senkakus, which Beijing claims as the Diaoyus.

The aircraft headed back toward China after Japan’s military planes became airborne, defence officials said, declining to give further details.

The incident came as three Chinese government ships sailed into territorial waters around the islands, Japan’s coast guard said.

The three marine surveillance ships entered the 12-nautical-mile territorial zone off Uotsuri island shortly after 7 a.m., the coast guard said in a statement.

It said the trio left the zone after just over two hours.

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