NEW YORK: The United States military said a Chinese jet flew close to one of its reconnaissance aircraft during a patrol mission over the South China Sea the previous week.
According to Voice of America, the United States Indo-Pacific Command said a Chinese J-16 jet “flew directly in front of the nose” of the RC-135 plane “in an unnecessarily aggressive manoeuvre,” forcing the pilot to fly through the turbulence caused by the fighter.
Video footage of the incident from the cockpit of the United States reconnaissance plane showed the plane shaking soon after the Chinese fighter jet flew across its flight path.
The statement said the RC-135 reconnaissance plane was conducting “routine operations over the South China Sea in global airspace, by international law.”
The previous week’s incident occurred six months after a similar incident in December when the crew of another RC-135 plane was forced to take evasive manoeuvres to avoid colliding with a Chinese jet.
The incidents come during increasing tensions between Washington and Beijing over many problems, including China’s aggressive expansion across the South China Sea and its increasing army and diplomatic pressure on self-ruled Taiwan, which it considers a breakaway province of China.
Along with the aerial reconnaissance missions, the United States has sailed its naval warships through the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait under the concept of “freedom of navigation.”
The Pentagon said China had refused an invitation for Defense Minister General Li Shangfu to meet with United States Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on the sidelines of this week’s Singapore’s Shangri-La Dialogue regional security summit.
