China lodges protest over Canadian plane, says it violated sovereignty

BEIJING – China’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday the Canadian military plane intercepted on Monday violated China’s sovereignty and national security, and it has lodged solemn representations with Canada.

“A Canadian CP-140 aircraft illegally intruded into the airspace of Chiwei Yu, an island affiliated to China’s Diaoyu Islands, seriously violating China’s sovereignty and threatening China’s national security,” ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning told a regular press briefing in response to a question.

The Lockheed CP-140 Aurora is a four-engined maritime patrol aircraft flown by the Royal Canadian Air Force.

Ms Mao called the actions by Canada “provocative” and said the Chinese military took necessary measures at the scene.

“The truth of the matter is that the Canadian military aircraft travelled thousands of miles to China’s doorstep to provoke trouble, and China dealt with it in accordance with the law and regulations,” she said.

“The Canadian side should respect the objective facts and stop spreading false information,” said Ms Mao, adding that Canadian military aircraft have frequently approached China for reconnaissance and provocation.

Canadian Defence Minister Bill Blair said moves taken by Chinese fighter jets over international waters were unacceptable, dangerous and reckless.

Mr Blair spoke after Canada’s Global News said a Chinese jet had come within 5m of a Canadian surveillance plane taking part in a UN operation to enforce sanctions against North Korea.

The incident took place over international waters off the coast of China, said Global News, which had a crew on the plane.

Mr Blair said that while the Chinese air force regularly interacted with planes on UN missions, the incident on Monday had put the Canadian aircraft at significant risk.

“I am very concerned about the unprofessional way in which this was done,” Mr Blair said.

“It was quite frankly dangerous and reckless. And those types of behaviours are not ever acceptable and we will express that to the People’s Republic of China in the most appropriate way,” he continued, but did not give details.

In June 2022,

Canada’s military accused Chinese warplanes of

harassing its patrol aircraft

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

In May, the Pentagon said a Chinese fighter jet carried out an “unnecessarily aggressive” manoeuvre near a US military plane

over the South China Sea in international airspace

.

The encounter followed what Washington calls a recent trend of increasingly dangerous behaviour by Chinese military aircraft. REUTERS