The South China Morning Post reported (January 25) that between the start of April and the end of December, 758 foreign aircraft that flew close to Japanese airspace were intercepted, an increase from 736 incidents in the same period a year before and the second-highest total on record. Of these, 476 – or 63 per cent – were against Chinese military aircraft, up by 81 on the previous year. A further 270 missions were flown to monitor the movements of Russian aircraft, primarily in airspace off the northern island of Hokkaido – 58 fewer incidents than in the same nine-month period in 2017.