US details risky Chinese military aircraft manoeuvres over past two years

WASHINGTON – Chinese military aircraft have carried out risky or reckless manoeuvres close to US aircraft nearly 200 times since 2021, an American official said on Tuesday, putting a figure on what the Pentagon has called China’s increasingly dangerous behaviour in the skies.

But despite the large number of risky intercepts, the official declined to say how many of those close calls were “unsafe and unprofessional” – a standard military term used when interactions are actually dangerous.

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there had been 180 incidents since 2021 against US military aircraft, and the number increased to 300 when manoeuvres near aircraft of allies were included.

On Monday,

Chinese fighter jets intercepted a Canadian military plane,

a move which Ottawa said was dangerous and reckless.

In June 2022,

Canada’s military accused Chinese warplanes of harassing its patrol aircraft

as they monitored North Korea’s sanction evasions, sometimes forcing Canadian planes to divert from their flight paths.

Relations between China and the United States have been tense, with friction between the world’s two largest economies over everything from Taiwan to China’s human rights record and its military activity in the South China Sea.

But Washington has been eager to revive military-to-military communications with China.

Last week, the Pentagon said it had accepted an invitation to attend China’s top annual security forum in late October, the latest sign of potentially warming ties between the two countries’ militaries. REUTERS