Two Chinese “SU-30” jets carried out what the U.S. military described as an “unprofessional” intercept of a U.S. aircraft designed to detect radiation while it was flying in international airspace over the East China Sea.
U.S. Air Force spokesperson, Lt.-Col. Lori Hodge said: “the issue is being addressed with China through appropriate diplomatic and military channels.”
Hodge said the U.S. characterisation of the incident was based on initial reports from the aircrew aboard the “WC-135`’ Constant Phoenix aircraft “due to the maneuvers by the Chinese pilot, as well as the speeds and proximity of both aircraft.”
“Distances always have a bearing on how we characterise interactions,” Hodge said, adding a U.S. military investigation into the intercept was underway.
She said the “WC-135” was carrying out a routine mission at the time and was operating in accordance with international law.
Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying declined to comment on the specific incident and referred questions to the defence ministry which has yet to comment.
“For a long time U.S. ships and aircraft have been carrying out close up surveillance of China which can really easily cause misunderstandings or misjudgments or cause unexpected incidents at sea or in the air,” she said.
“We hope that the U.S. side can respect China’s reasonable security concerns.”
On Feb. 8, a U.S. Navy “P-3” spy plane and a Chinese military aircraft came close to each other over the South China Sea in an incident the Navy saw as unsafe but also inadvertent.
Reuters reported at the time that the aircraft came within 1,000 feet of each other in the vicinity of the Scarborough Shoal, between the Philippines and the Chinese mainland.
China is deeply suspicious of any U.S. military activity in the resource-rich South China Sea, parts of which are disputed by China and its smaller neighbors including the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia
