A Chinese fighter jet carried out an “unnecessarily aggressive” maneuver near a US military aircraft over the South China Sea in international airspace, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
The US military command responsible for the Indo-Pacific area said the maneuver by a Chinese J-16 jet occurred last week and forced the US RC-135 jet to fly through its wake turbulence.
“The United States will continue to fly, navigate and operate, safely and responsibly, where permitted by international law,” it said in a statement.
Video showed a fighter jet passing in front of the nose of the US plane and the RC-135’s cockpit shaking in the turbulence.
Chinese embassy spokesman in Washington Liu Pengyu had no comment on the matter, but said the United States had long “frequently deployed aircraft and ships for close reconnaissance of China, posing a serious danger to China.” China’s national security”.
“China urges the United States to stop such dangerous provocations and stop deflecting responsibility,” Liu said by email after a request for comment on the US military statement.
The statement added that China will “continue to take necessary measures to resolutely uphold its sovereignty and security, and work with regional countries to firmly safeguard peace and stability in the South China Sea.”
China claims almost all of the South China Sea, where several other countries have rival claims. Beijing has often said that sending US ships and planes to the area does not help peace.
The latest incident took place before China rejected a request by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to meet on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue Asian security summit in Singapore this week.
A senior US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that since 2021 China had rejected or left unanswered more than a dozen requests to speak with the Pentagon, which it says such contacts are important to avoid misunderstandings.
Source: Ambito
