“The common denominator among the targets selected is that they have some relation to the territorial dispute revolving around the South China Sea”, said the cyber security firm.
Advertisement
Last month, after the July 12 ruling, the air force said that it had conducted patrols over the South China Sea and would make it “a regular practice”.
The warplanes were escorted by Airborne Early Warning Aircraft (AWACS) and flying tankers, which were part of “actual combat training to improve the Air Force’s response to security threats”, the Air Force said.
Besides the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have counter claims over the area.
China and the United States have been accusing one another of leading to militarization of the sea, a critical asset for global shipping and fishing that sees more than $5 trillion in maritime trade every year.
Japan is demanding the ships leave the area. The government made the demand to the Chinese embassy in Tokyo, according to the statement.
Japanese vice foreign minister Shinsuke Sugiyama also called China’s ambassador Cheng Yonghu to Tokyo to protest a similar incident involving Chinese coast guard and fishing vessels intruding in Japanese waters on Friday.
The two countries are locked in a long-running dispute over uninhabited islets in the East China Sea known as the Senkaku in Japan and the Diaoyu in China.
The Chinese fleet has not intruded in Japanese territorial waters so far, it said.
The exercises, which are focusing on the airspace around the Spratly Islands and Scarborough Shoal, come as tensions have increased in the wake of a recent global court ruling in The Hague that rejected China’s claims to a broad swath of territory in the South China Sea.
Targeted organisations identified in the report include the Department of Justice of the Philippines, which has been involved in the case filed by the Philippines against China; the organisers of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, which was held in the Philippines in November 2015; and a major global law firm.
Japan also protested on Friday after two Chinese coast guard ships entered the Japanese-claimed waters around Senkaku.
Advertisement
Chinese officials could not immediately be reached for comment on Saturday.
