Japan furious over China 'radar lock'

[Bonobo]

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia-pacific/2013/02/201328151250783405.html

Japan has summoned China's ambassador to Tokyo, demanding that Beijing apologise and admit that a Chinese frigate directed weapon-targeting radar at a Japanese destroyer in international waters, the country's prime minister says.

Shinzo Abe, Japan's prime minister, has demanded an apology from Beijing for the incident in the latest flare-up of a row between the two countries over disputed islands in the East China Sea.

"We wish China to acknowledge [the radar lock], apologise for it and make efforts to prevent it from recurring," Abe told the BS Fuji TV station, Jiji Press news agency reported on Friday.

Tokyo also charges a Chinese frigate 'painted' one of its helicopters in the middle of last month.

On both January 19 and January 30, China's defence ministry said in a statement faxed to the AFP news agency, the Chinese ship-board radar maintained normal operations and "fire-control radar was not used".

Japan may release data proving Chinese radar incident

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/09/us-japan-china-idUSBRE91801B20130209

(Reuters) - Japan may release data it says will prove a Chinese naval vessel directed its fire control radar at a Japanese destroyer near disputed islands in the East China Sea, local media reported.

Japan has said a Chinese frigate on January 30 locked its targeting radar on a Japanese destroyer - a step that usually precedes the firing of weapons - but China insists that its vessel used only ordinary surveillance radar. The incident has added to tensions between the two nations over the disputed islands.

Japan will consider how much normally classified data it can release, the media reports said, citing comments by Japan Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera on local television.

"The government is considering the extent of what can be disclosed," Kyodo news agency quoted Onodera as saying.

China has accused Japan of smearing its name with the accusations, and on Saturday, the official Xinhua news agency continued the war of words.