Photo: SHAO JING/PICTURE ALLIANCE / Deutsche Welle
Chinese H-6 and Russian TU-95 bombers flew together this Tuesday (24.20.2022) near Japanese territory, said the Japanese Defense Minister, Nobuo Kishi, who specified that his government protested to Beijing and Moscow and expressed its “serious concern”.
The flights coincided with a summit in Tokyo of the Quad alliance, which brings together the United States, Japan, Australia and India, which has expressed concern about China’s growing military influence in the Asia-Pacific region.
“Two Chinese bombers joined two Chinese bombers Russians in the Sea of Japan and conducted a joint flight to the East China Sea,” Kishi told reporters.
“After this, a total of four planes, two suspected (new) Chinese bombers and two Russian bombers, flew set from the East China Sea to the Pacific Ocean”, he added.
Kishi also pointed out that a Russian intelligence plane IL-20 flew from northern Hokkaido to the Noto peninsula on Tuesday and described the maneuvers as “provocative”, taking into account the summit in Tokyo.
For its part, the Chinese government confirmed the flights in a brief statement and said that they were part of the “annual military cooperation plan” between China and Russia.