Japanese military aircraft are increasingly intercept Chinese aircraft, putting the safety of Chinese pilots at risk and destroying the bilateral relations, the Chinese defense Ministry said on Thursday.

Japan said earlier that China was intercepted by military aircraft 407 times in the period from 1 April to 30 September. It is almost 2 times more interceptions in the same period in 2015.

"Such high-frequency reconnaissance against China is not only violating the normal training Chinese military, but also undermines the security interests of China," said the Colonel Wu Qian, a representative of the Chinese Ministry of national defense, at a briefing on Thursday.

Wu said that the Japanese planes used threat tactics during these interceptions. Wu said that the Chinese military flights in the area of Japan was entirely in the framework of international law and standard practice of aviation.

At the end of September, Japan sent fighter jets after 8 Chinese military aircraft crossed the airspace between Okinawa and Miyako island near Taiwan. It was the first time that Chinese military planes were seen in the Strait of Miyako, has told the Japanese Secretary General of the Cabinet yoshihide Suga at the time.

Shen Jinka, an official with the people's liberation army air force, said a fleet of 40 aircraft were sent to the Western Pacific ocean through the Miyako Strait for "regular exercises at sea", reports the official news Agency Xinhua of China.
sections: Politics, World News, Accidents