Chinese state-run Xinhua News Agency reported today that the Chinese military on Thursday dispatched two J-10 fighter jets to areas over the disputed Diaoyu, otherwise known as Senkaku, Islands. Defense authorities said they had spotted two Japanese F-15 fighter jets in the area.
Japan sent those jets there to tail a Chinese Y-8 aircraft. It was flying over the East China Sea oil and gas fields.
The increase in military presence from both sides comes after months of tension over the small, uninhabited islands. They’re in an area believed to have large reserves of oil and gas.
The ownership row escalated in September last year, after Japan nationalized the islands.