Japanese surveillance of Chinese land, naval forces 'poses safety threat'

BEIJING - The Ministry of National Defense said on Wednesday that Japan's high frequency of surveillance of China's land and naval forces undermines China's national security interests.

Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun called on Japan to stop scrambling fighters to intercept Chinese planes, warning that this was the cause of air and maritime safety problems, and had severely disturbed military drills.

Japan has strengthened its efforts to monitor China in the East China Sea area in recent years.