A Chinese fighter pilot performed “an unwarranted aggressive maneuver” near a US military reconnaissance aircraft operating in the South China Sea, the US military said on Tuesday.
This incident comes at a time of high tensions between Beijing and Washington, due to things like Taiwan or the flight of a Chinese balloon over US soil in late 2022.
The Chinese plane flew “straight ahead and within 400 feet of the RC-135’s nose on Friday, forcing the U.S. plane to reduce turbulence from its wake,” The Indo-Pacific Command (IndoPacom) of the US military reports this in a statement.
The RC-135, a military reconnaissance aircraft, was conducting “routine security operations in the South China Sea and international airspace in accordance with international law,” IndoPacom added.
According to the released video footage, a fighter jet appears to pass in front of an American plane, which is startled by the turbulence caused by this passage.
#USINDOPACOM Statement on #PRC Unprofessional Intercept: “We expect all countries in the Indo-Pacific region to use international airspace safely and in accordance with international law.”
Read more⬇️https://t.co/jeAEg1lHXz pic.twitter.com/AvPKRZHCZB
— U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (@INDOPACOM) May 30, 2023
A senior US military official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, noted that there had been “an alarming increase in interceptions and high-risk engagements” by Chinese aircraft and ships.
Such acts “could cause a dangerous incident or miscalculation,” he added.
“We’re not considering [estas interceções] performed by independently operating pilots. We believe this is part of a repeating pattern on a larger scale,” the senior official said.
A similar incident in December involved a Chinese fighter and a US RC-135, forcing the US aircraft to “execute evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision,” IndoPacom revealed at the time.
News of the latest incident came a day after the Pentagon said Beijing rejected an invitation from the United States to hold a meeting in Singapore this week between US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart Li Shanfu.
However, according to the senior US official, the two situations are still unrelated.
Lloyd Austin and other US officials are working to strengthen US alliances in Asia to counter Beijing’s increasingly assertive moves in the region, though both sides have also sought reconciliation at times.
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Vienna in May.
US President Joe Biden also recently indicated that relations between Washington and Beijing should ease tensions “very quickly”.
Source: DN
