On Friday the Chinese Defense Ministry in Beijing issued a statement outright denying Japan’s allegations of the military’s use of weapons-targeting radar, and stating that no such incident took place. Following the angle put forth by Chinese media the day before, the government now accuses Tokyo of “hyping the Chinese threat.”
The Japanese government revealed earlier this week that twice in January, Chinese ships used radar to lock-on to Japan’s Self Defense Force vessels in waters near the two nations’ disputed islands. No weapons were fired, however government leaders from both Japan and the U.S. have strongly condemned the act, stating it dangerous and easily leading to armed conflict. In a release from China’s Defense Ministry to the AFP news agency, it stated that on January 19th and January 30th, their patrol ships “maintained normal operations and “fire-control radar was not used.”
The image presented by Japan “goes against the facts,” the Chinese statement continued, accusing Tokyo of spreading untrue information in order to “recklessly create tension and mislead international public opinion.” On Thursday, a Foreign Ministry spokeswoman stated that the Chinese government only learned about the military’s use of radar from the resulting media reports, a claim that certainly does lean towards the possibility of the incident being fabricated, after all, how could the country’s central government not know what actions the military is taking? However, on the same day, government-backed news agencies ran reports that an “expert” said the use of weapons radar to lock-on was a common practice, and one that is regularly returned by the opposite side.
[via Global Post]