WASHINGTON – A Chinese fighter jet flew dangerously inside 20 toes (six meters) of a a lot bigger US air pressure surveillance plane over the South China Sea, the US navy stated Thursday.
In the December 21 incident, a Chinese Navy J-11 fighter pilot “performed an unsafe maneuver during an intercept of a US Air Force RC-135 aircraft,” the US Indo-Pacific Command stated in an announcement.
The Chinese pilot flew in entrance of and inside 20 toes of the nostril of the US plane, “forcing the RC-135 to take evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision,” it stated.
The RC-135, “was lawfully conducting routine operations over the South China Sea in international airspace,” the US command stated.
The incident got here as China has despatched more and more giant teams of warplanes out over the ocean in direction of Taiwan in a present of pressure, as Beijing stiffens its declare of sovereignty over the US-backed, self-ruled island.
Last weekend, China flew 71 warplanes, together with dozens of fighter jets, in navy workout routines round Taiwan, one of many largest such actions but since Beijing began deploying navy plane into Taiwan’s air protection identification zone.
The People’s Liberation Army stated it had carried out a “strike drill” on Sunday in response to unspecified “provocations” and “collusion” between the United States and Taiwan.
According to an AFP database, there have been greater than 1,700 such incursions up to now this yr, in contrast with 969 in 2021. Taiwan’s protection ministry stated it recorded round 380 incursions in 2020.
The United States has supplied Taiwan with substantial navy support and superior applied sciences to defend itself from any potential Chinese invasion.
Washington has additionally angered Beijing by refusing to just accept its disputed claims to quite a few small islands throughout the South China Sea, islands that are in waters claimed by different Southeast Asian international locations. — Agence France-Presse
