Beijing blames US ‘provocation’ for South China Sea fighter jet incident
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A Chinese J-16 aircraft carried out the manoeuvre last week, forcing a US RC-135 plane to fly through its wake turbulence.
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WASHINGTON - China blamed US “provocation” on Wednesday for an incident last week in which a Chinese plane crossed in front of an American surveillance aircraft over the South China Sea.
“The United States’ long-term and frequent sending of ships and planes to conduct close surveillance on China seriously harms China’s national sovereignty and security,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said when asked about the incident.
“This kind of provocative, dangerous activity is the cause of the security issues on the seas,” she said, calling on Washington to “immediately stop this form of dangerous provocation”.
She added: “China will continue to take all necessary steps to resolutely protect its own sovereignty and security.”
On Tuesday, the US described the Chinese action as an “unnecessarily aggressive” manoeuvre in international airspace.
In a statement, the US military command responsible for the Indo-Pacific said the Chinese J-16 aircraft forced the US RC-135 plane to fly through its wake turbulence.
“The United States will continue to fly, sail, and operate – safely and responsibly – wherever international law allows,” the statement said.
A video showed a fighter jet passing in front of the US plane’s nose and the cockpit of the RC-135 shaking in the turbulence.
The spokesman for China’s embassy in Washington, Mr Liu Pengyu, did not comment on the specifics, but said that for a long time, the US had “frequently deployed aircraft and vessels for close-in reconnaissance on China, which poses a serious danger to China’s national security”.
“China urges the US to stop such dangerous provocations, and stop deflecting blame on China,” Mr Liu said in an e-mailed response to a request for comment on the US military statement.
He added that China would “continue to take necessary measures to resolutely defend 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 frequently said that the US sending ships and aircraft into the sea is not good for peace.
The incident took place before China snubbed a request by US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin
A senior US defence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that since 2021, China had declined or not responded to more than a dozen requests to talk with the Pentagon, which says such contacts are important to avoid misunderstandings and unintended consequences.
The encounter followed what the US has called a recent trend of increasingly dangerous behaviour by Chinese military aircraft.
Such intercepts happen occasionally.
In December, a Chinese military plane came within 3m of a US Air Force aircraft
Relations between China and the US have been tense, with friction between the world’s two largest economies involving issues ranging from Taiwan to China’s human rights record to its military activity in the South China Sea.
AFP, REUTERS
