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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.

Speaking at the ministry's monthly news conference, Yang said the number of Japanese jets approaching Chinese coastal waters from January to September increased 44 percent compared with the same period last year.

"It has endangered the safety of Chinese fighters and is causing air and maritime safety problems. We have sufficient evidence of this," Yang said.

"We hope the Japanese side can take a responsible attitude and effective measures to avoid any possible accidents," he added.

Japanese figures showed that its Air Self-Defense Forces had scrambled 83 times in the first half of the year to check out military aircraft from China, more than triple the number in the same period last year.

In fact, none of the Chinese aircraft entered Japanese air space, and Yang said that the conduct of the Chinese planes totally conformed to international law and practices.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Japanese jets scrambled 203 times from April to September. About 106 of those intercepts related to aircraft from Russia, with which Japan is engaged in a long-running territorial dispute. But scrambles related to Russia declined 29 percent compared with the same period last year.

Questions:

1. How many times were Air Self-Defense Forces scrambled in the first half of the year, according to Japanese figures?

2. According to the Wall Street Journal how many jets were scrambled from April to September?

3. How many of those related to aircraft from Russia?

Answers:

1. 83.

2. 203.

3. 106.

（中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津 Helen 編輯）

About the broadcaster:

Lee Hannon is Chief Editor at China Daily with 15-years experience in print and broadcast journalism. Born in England, Lee has traveled extensively around the world as a journalist including four years as a senior editor in Los Angeles. He now lives in Beijing and is happy to move to China and join the China Daily team.