Japan Ascents Jets for Drone Close Borderline of Islands

Japan scrambled fighter jets Monday after an unknown drone ran close Tokyo-controlled islands at the centre of a bitter ascents with China, a defense ministry spokesman admitted.
These was the first reported incident of its kind.
Japan's Air Self-Defence Force sent an unknown number of jets to the area, the official told the news agencies.

However, The drones did not enter Japanese airspace, the official added.

A second Japanese defence ministry official said the nationality of the drone was not clear, but added that it came from the northwest and and was last seen flying back in that direction.

The  I know Chinese have drones but when asked about the incident, foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei admitted: "I don't know of the situation."

On Sunday, Japan scrambled fighter jets against two Chinese bombers that flew from the East China Sea into the Pacific, through a gap between islands in the Okinawa chain, the defence ministry said.

And two weeks ago, fighters were dispatched to head off a Chinese government plane flying towards the Senkaku islands, which Beijing calls the Diaoyus and claims as its own.

A Y-12 propeller plane ran about 101 kilometres (62 miles) from airspace around the islands on August 26, before it goes back towards China after Japan's military planes became airborne.

In December, some thing like same plane from China's State Oceanic Administration breached airspace over the Ascents islands, prompting the launch of Japanese F-15s.