Two Chinese fighter jets carried out an “unsafe” intercept of a US military reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.
Two Chinese fighter jets carried out an “unsafe” intercept of a US military reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.
The Pentagon drew a rebuke from Beijing, which demanded that Washington end surveillance near China.
The incident, likely to increase tension in and around the contested waterway, took place in international airspace on Tuesday as the US maritime patrol aircraft carried out “a routine US patrol,” a Pentagon statement said. The encounter comes a week after China scrambled fighter jets as a US Navy ship sailed close to a disputed reef in the South China Sea. Another Chinese intercept took place in 2014 when a Chinese fighter pilot flew acrobatic maneuvers around a US spy plane days before President Barack Obama travels to parts of Asia from May 21-28, including a Group of Seven summit in Japan and his first trip to Vietnam.
China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year. The Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims. Washington has accused Beijing of militarising the South China Sea after creating artificial islands, while Beijing, in turn, has criticised increased US naval patrols and exercises in Asia.
The Pentagon statement said the department of defence was addressing the issue through military and diplomatic channels. China’s foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said the US statement was “not true”.
