Well, it didn’t take long, but the Chinese Ministry of Defense released a statement on Monday saying that the Japanese report which said military officials admitted to using weapons-targeting radar on Japan’s Self-Defense Force (SDF) ships in January was untrue and groundless. The report was originally published on Sunday by the Kyodo news agency, however none of the Chinese military officials were named, and there was no evidence that the admission was formally coming from the government.
China’s Defense Ministry reiterated its previous claims that its ships never pointed weapons radar at Japanese vessels, and Japan’s claims over the incident, which reportedly took place north of the disputed Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in late January, are mere fabrications. The Chinese government continued that the reports claiming that officials admitted to such actions has tarnished the image of China’s military and damaged international public opinion of the country.
Kyodo’s report said the Chinese military officials admitted to making the decision to use the radar, although it wasn’t planned, and that the ship’s commander did not seek approval from the government or naval superiors. This was explained as being due to the fact that the Chinese navy doesn’t have a communication system as “advanced” as Japan or the U.S. Kyodo added that the Japanese Defense Ministry was seeing this non-government admission as potential “mind games” on China’s part.
Seeing as how the government is now denying that this military admission took place, along with continuing to deny that radar was used, mind games could certainly be what’s going on here. Otherwise we are to believe that Chinese government officials and military officials are making their own decisions, and not communicating with each other in any reasonable fashion.
[via People's Daily]