A Chinese language fighter jet intercepted a US reconnaissance plane over the South China Sea final week and carried out an “unsafe maneuver,” forcing the US plane to take evasive motion, in keeping with Indo-Pacific Command, the command chargeable for overseeing US army operations within the area.
On December 21, a Chinese language Navy J-11 fighter jet flew inside 20 toes of the nostril of an RC-135 Rivet Joint, a US Air Pressure reconnaissance aircraft with about 30 folks on board. In response, the RC-135 needed to take “evasive maneuvers to keep away from a collision,” INDOPACOM mentioned in a press release Thursday.
The RC-135 was in worldwide airspace over the South China Sea and was “lawfully conducting routine operations,” INDOPACOM mentioned.
Video of the incident from INDOPACOM exhibits the J-11 flying off the nostril of the RC-135. As the 2 plane draw nearer, a protection official mentioned it’s “unlikely” the Chinese language jet may have maintained a protected visible separation from the bigger, heavier American plane, which was sustaining its course and velocity. The RC-135 then takes evasive motion to keep away from a collision, descending away from the Chinese language jet.
The vast majority of plane interactions, together with these between the US and China, are carried out in a protected {and professional} method, the official mentioned. However in instances resembling this incident when they’re decided to be unsafe, the US responds via diplomatic and army channels via traces of communication with Beijing.
“We intend to take action on this case,” the official mentioned.
China claims a lot of the South China Sea as a part of its territorial waters, together with most of the islands within the disputed physique of water, a few of which Beijing has militarized.
The US doesn’t acknowledge these territorial claims and routinely conducts operations there, together with freedom of navigation operations via the South China Sea.
“The U.S. Indo-Pacific Joint Pressure is devoted to a free and open Indo-Pacific area and can proceed to fly, sail and function at sea and in worldwide airspace with due regard for the protection of all vessels and plane below worldwide legislation,” the assertion mentioned.
Supply: CNN