China said it is investigating a report from Japan that a Chinese army aircraft violated Japanese airspace, China's Foreign Ministry spokesman Lin Jian said on Tuesday in Beijing.

China does not intend to intrude into the airspace of other countries, he said, adding that the two sides are in contact with each other.

Japan's Ministry of Defense said that a Chinese Y-9 reconnaissance aircraft flew for around two minutes over the East China Sea on Monday morning and through the airspace around the Danjo archipelago, which belongs to the south-western Japanese prefecture of Nagasaki.

Japan launched fighter jets in response. Government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi spoke of an unacceptable incident that violated Japan's territory and posed a threat to security. The government summoned China's acting ambassador to Japan to lodge a protest.