A Chinese military expert said Japan should not overreact to spotting eight Chinese military planes over the East China Sea and Japan Sea on Monday, saying this is routine military training.
According to a Japanese Defense Ministry Joint Staff press release on Monday, "eight Chinese military aircraft, including one early warning plane, one intelligence gathering plane and six bombers, appeared over the East China Sea and Japan Sea."
The press release added that Japanese Self-Defense Forces sent military planes immediately to deal with them.
Fu Qianshao, a Beijing-based air defense expert, told the Global Times on Monday that this is normal routine training, and Japan panicked and overreacted, which shows Japan may have wanted to hype the event and act as a trouble maker.
The news soon triggered wide attention on social media, with hundreds of comments within minutes.
Many Sina Weibo users wrote on their account on Monday that Japan's overreaction might have been related to the flight delays between Taipei and Seoul.
On Twitter, Japanese Net users said they saw Japanese military aircraft taking off from different airports in Japan, including but not limited to military bases at Naha, Hamamatsu and Komatsu.
