Grave concerns, says Japan as China, Russia jets allegedly fly nearby Quad meet venue

TIL Desk/World/Tokyo/ Chinese and Russian warplanes on Tuesday conducted joint air patrols over the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea and the West Pacific Ocean as the leaders of Quad held their in-person summit in Tokyo, in an apparent attempt to send a message of unity between Beijing and Moscow.

”The air forces of China and Russia conducted routine joint strategic air patrols over the Sea of Japan, the East China Sea and the West Pacific Ocean on Tuesday, in line with the annual military cooperation plan between the two armies,” the Chinese ministry of defence said in Beijing in a brief announcement.

The second in-person Quad summit was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and the new Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Media reports from Tokyo quoted Japanese Defence Minister Nobuo Kishi as telling the media that Japan had expressed ”grave concerns” over the joint sorties by the Russian and Chinese military flights when the leaders of the Quad alliance consisting of the US, India, Japan and Australia held the second in-person summit on Tuesday.

”Two Chinese bombers joined two Russian bombers in the Sea of Japan and made a joint flight to the East China Sea,” Kishi said, adding that Japan has taken up the issue with both the countries through diplomatic channels. China and Russia have conducted annual military drills in the Pacific in the past.