In a video clip shown by China Central Television on Friday, the pilot of the Chinese plane is heard speaking in English to the crew of the unidentified aircraft.
“This is China air force,” he said. “You have entered the Chinese ADIZ. Report your nationality ID and purpose of the flight.”
The report did not say when the encounter took place or how the foreign plane responded to the message.
Air defence identification zones comprise airspace over land or water in which the identification, location and control of aircraft is performed in the interests of national security. The concept, however, is not defined in any international treaty or regulated by any international body.
Beijing declared an ADIZ over the East China Sea in 2013 in a move designed to boost its claims to the disputed waterway, which is also claimed by Japan.
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China increased its naval and air force patrols in the area after Japan bought three islands in the Diaoyu chain (or Senkaku as it is known in Tokyo) in the East China Sea in 2012.