Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – The United States (US) said a Chinese fighter jet carried out “unnecessarily aggressive” maneuvers near US military aircraft over the South China Sea in international airspace.
In a statement Tuesday (30/5/2023), the United States military command in charge of the Indo-Pacific said the Chinese J-16 aircraft conducted maneuvers last week and forced the US RC-135 aircraft to fly through its turbulence.
“The United States will continue to fly, sail and operate, safely and responsibly, wherever international law permits,” the statement said. Reuters.
A video shows a fighter jet passing in front of the US plane’s nose and the RC-135’s cockpit shaking in the turbulence.
The Chinese embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Previously, China said that the United States sending ships and aircraft to the South China Sea was not good for peace in the region.
Incidents like that happen sometimes. In December, a Chinese military aircraft came within about 3 meters of a US Air Force plane and forced it to perform an evasive maneuver to avoid a collision in international airspace.
The meeting follows what the United States calls a recent trend of increasingly dangerous behavior by Chinese military aircraft.
The incident occurred before China refused a request by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to meet on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue’s Asia Security Summit in Singapore this week.
A senior US defense official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that since 2021 China has rejected or not responded to more than a dozen requests to speak to the Pentagon.
Relations between China and the United States are strained, with friction between the world’s two largest economies over everything from Taiwan and China’s human rights record to its military activities in the South China Sea.
(luc/luc)
2023-05-30 23:05:00
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