The United States has for the first time criticized the Chinese military’s use of radar on Japanese fighter jets last week, as Tokyo refuted Beijing’s claims it had given sufficient advance notice of military drills near Japan.

“China’s actions are not conducive to regional peace and stability,” a State Department spokesperson told The Japan Times via email on Wednesday. “The U.S.-Japan Alliance is stronger and more united than ever. Our commitment to our ally Japan is unwavering, and we are in close contact on this and other issues.”

The criticism was the first comment by U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration following Saturday’s incident that saw Chinese fighters dispatched from the Liaoning aircraft carrier twice illuminate Air Self-Defense Force jets with radar, maneuvers that Tokyo has lambasted as “dangerous.”

The radar incident comes as Tokyo and Beijing remain embroiled in an increasingly acrimonious dispute following Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s Nov. 7 remarks that the Self-Defense Forces could be deployed under certain “worst-case” scenarios, such as a Chinese naval blockade of Taiwan, which she said would constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan.

Trump himself has yet to weigh in publicly on either the radar incident or Takaichi’s comments, frustrating Japanese officials, who have reportedly urged the U.S. president to offer Tokyo more public support amid its tensions with Beijing.

But with Trump anxious to seal a trade deal with Chinese leader Xi Jinping during a planned state visit to Beijing in April, his administration has appeared to largely shy away from moves that could alienate China.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara speaks during a news conference at the Prime Minister’s Office on Wednesday. | JIJI

Japan’s top government spokesman on Wednesday welcomed the State Department’s comments, saying they “demonstrate the strength of the U.S.-Japan alliance.”

But Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara also explicitly noted that “gaining other countries’ understanding” in Japan’s dispute with China remains “extremely important.”

The U.S. remarks came as Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi on Wednesday disputed a report in Chinese state-run media that the Asian powerhouse’s military had given sufficient advance notice of training near Japan ahead of the radar incident.

China’s Global Times newspaper on Tuesday published audio purportedly of the Chinese military notifying a Maritime Self-Defense Force ship in Chinese and English via radio Saturday of aerial training. The MSDF vessel responded in English that it had received the message, the paper said, citing Yuyuan Tantian, a social media account affiliated with state-run China Central Television.

According to the Yuyuan Tantian account, notice of the Liaoning-based aircraft’s training was given twice on Saturday, once at 2:01 p.m. and again at 2:28 p.m., less than an hour before the exercises began at 3 p.m. Despite this, it said, ASDF aircraft came within 50 kilometers of what it said was China’s designated “air and sea training area.”

Asked about the report, Koizumi confirmed that an MSDF ship had received notice Saturday from a Chinese naval vessel that flight training was “about to commence,” but said details were scant.

“Specific information regarding the scale of the training or the airspace where the Liaoning’s carrier-based aircraft would operate was not provided to the SDF. Nor were the time, location or specific latitude and longitude of the training area indicated,” Koizumi said at an impromptu news conference.”

He also emphasized that no other aviation information was provided, and no navigational warnings for vessels had been issued in advance.

“As a result, there was insufficient information to avoid danger,” Koizumi said.

“This is China Navy Warship 101. Our formation organizes shipborne aircraft flight training as planned.”

“This is Japan Warship 116. I copied your message.”

China provided on-site notifications for Liaoning aircraft carrier formation’s training to the Japanese vessels in the... pic.twitter.com/stY3xDPzfP

— Global Times (@globaltimesnews) December 9, 2025

The Japanese defense chief also reiterated that it was natural for Japan to scramble fighters to monitor the Liaoning flotilla in waters southeast of Okinawa Prefecture, “regardless of whether prior notification of the training was given.”

“The essence of the problem is that while our side was appropriately conducting countermeasures ... the Chinese side conducted intermittent radar illumination for approximately 30 minutes,” Koizumi said, noting that ASDF fighters did not use radar on aircraft launched from the Liaoning.

Tokyo and Beijing have traded accusations over the radar encounter, with Japan calling China’s claims that the ASDF fighters harassed Chinese forces “unfounded.”

China has ramped up its military activities near Japan in recent months, moves that include what the Defense Ministry said were “unusually close” approaches to SDF aircraft conducting surveillance over the East China Sea and in the western Pacific Ocean in June and July.

This pattern continued on Tuesday, with the SDF scrambling fighter jets after Chinese and Russian military aircraft conducted joint patrols around Japan, the Defense Ministry in Tokyo said late Tuesday.

Two Russian Tu-95 nuclear-capable bombers flew from the Sea of Japan toward the East China Sea to join two Chinese H-6 bombers for a “long-range joint flight” above the western Pacific Ocean off the coast of Shikoku, the Defense Ministry’s Joint Staff Office said in a statement.

Four Chinese J-16 fighter jets joined the bombers as they made a round-trip flight between Okinawa’s main island and Miyako Island, the statement added, adding that it had simultaneously detected Russian early-warning aircraft and two Su-30 fighters in the Sea of Japan.

Koizumi said in a post on X that the repeated joint bomber flights, part of what China and Russia call annual exercises, “signifies an expansion and intensification of activities around Japan.”

“These clearly represent a show of force against Japan,” he wrote Wednesday. “This is a serious security concern for our country.”