Update | Beijing and Washington offer differing versions of spy plane intercept in South China Sea
Pentagon reports that two Chinese fighter jets approached US military reconnaissance plane, coming as close as about 15 metres
China and the United States have engaged in a war of words in the aftermath of a close encounter between two Chinese fighter jets and a US military reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea.
In a statement, the Pentagon condemned the Chinese military for making an “unsafe” interception of the US aircraft while it was carrying out a “routine” patrol of the disputed waters on Tuesday. It said the plane was in international airspace at the time.
The foreign ministry in Beijing issued a strongly worded rebuke, denying the interception was unsafe and saying the close surveillance posed a security threat to China.
The US allegations are untrue,” foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.
“The Chinese aircraft kept a safe distance.”
The Associated Press reported two Chinese J-11 jets flew out to intercept the EP-3 surveillance aircraft and came as close as about 15 metres to the plane, causing it to descend to avert a collision. The report added that the incident took place over the northern part of the sea.
The incident has triggered concerns over possible military clashes arising from such incidents. In April 2001, an intercept of a US EP-3 aircraft by a Chinese fighter jet resulted in a collision that killed pilot Wang Wei and forced the Americans to make an emergency landing in Hainan province.
In 2014, a Chinese fighter pilot flew acrobatic manoeuvres around a US spy plane.
Both China and the US have over the years been working to minimise the risk of confrontations. The People’s Liberation Army’s Joint General Staff chief Fang Fenghui and his US counterpart, Joseph Dunford, last week pledged to improve communication.
The United States and China last year announced agreements on a military hotline and rules of behaviour to govern air-to-air encounters called the Code for Unplanned Encounters at Sea (CUES).
“This is exactly the type of irresponsible and dangerous intercepts that the air-to-air annex to CUES is supposed to prevent,” said Greg Poling, director of the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative at Washington’s Centre for Strategic and International Studies think tank.
But Ni Lexiong, a Shanghai-based military analyst, expected similar confrontations between China and the US would become more common.
“What the US aircraft has done is no different from an offence to China. The US side was spying under our noses after all, though it may have happened on the high seas,” Ni said.
The Pentagon statement said the US Department of Defence was addressing the latest incident through military and diplomatic channels.
“Over the past year, the Department of Defence has seen improvements in PRC actions, flying in a safe and professional manner,” the Pentagon statement said, using the acronym for the People’s Republic of China.
Washington has accused Beijing of militarising the South China Sea by creating artificial islands while Beijing, in turn, has criticised increased US naval patrols and exercises in Asia.
The Pentagon last month called on China to reaffirm that it had no plans to deploy military aircraft in the Spratly Islands after China used a military plane to evacuate sick workers from Fiery Cross Reef.
Additional reporting by Reuters
