Japan summoned China’s ambassador in Tokyo to lodge a strong protest over what it described as a Chinese military aircraft locking its fire-control radar onto a Japanese fighter jets, as tensions between the two countries surge.

The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Sunday that the protest was lodged over what it described as the dangerous and “extremely regrettable" conduct of Chinese J-15 fighter jets over international waters southeast of Okinawa’s main island a day earlier.

It said fighter jets from China’s Liaoning aircraft carrier locked radar onto Japanese aircraft that had been scrambled to track the vessel, a claim the Chinese embassy has denied.

Locking radar onto an aircraft signals a potential attack and can force the targeted plane to take evasive action, making

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