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South China Sea: PLA pilot was ready to die in bid to ‘expel’ foreign warship, viral video shows
- Gao Zengsong and his fellow pilots were on mission to intercept a foreign vessel in ‘Chinese territorial waters’
- ‘We were ready to pull the trigger,’ Gao says in video aired by CCTV
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A Chinese air force video has gone viral for showing a fighter-bomber pilot ready to “pull the trigger” and sacrifice himself as he “expels” an unspecified warship in the South China Sea.
Gao Zengsong, captain of a PLA Air Force unit, piloted a JH-7 fighter bomber to drive away a foreign ship that had sailed close to what was referred to in the video as “Chinese territorial waters”.
The video, aired by state broadcaster CCTV on Monday, did not mention the date and location of the mission, nor the details of the warship concerned.
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China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan have overlapping claims over the resource-rich and strategically important South China Sea. China accuses the United States – which is not a claimant – of violating its sovereignty by deploying military vessels and aircraft to the disputed waters.
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The video said Gao and his fellow pilots took off immediately after receiving orders to intercept the foreign vessel near Chinese territorial waters. The UN defines territorial waters as extending 12 nautical miles from a state’s coastal baseline.
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“At the time, I could see from my airborne radar [the foreign ship] was moving. We were ready to pull the trigger,” Gao says in the video.
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