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

South China Sea

Amber Wangin Beijing

Published: 8:30pm, 29 Apr 2022

Why you can trust SCMP

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.

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.

00:36

It’s our ‘intrinsic territory’, China says amid latest South China Sea dispute with Philippine

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.

“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.

The clip also showed Gao shout out his position at the warship: “I am the air force of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army. You have entered the control area of the Chinese air force. Please leave immediately. Otherwise, you will be responsible for the consequences.”

Gao Zengsong piloted a JH-7 fighter bomber. Photo: CCTV

But the ship did not leave immediately and continued to cruise at a constant speed, described by Gao as “provocative” behaviour.

“We have the responsibility to respond to all provocative phenomena by adversaries, to defend the sovereignty of our country. Even sacrificing myself, defending [the nation] with my life is worth it,” he said.

In the face of the escalating emergency, Gao left a message for his comrades. “If I don’t come back, remember to send that letter from my locker to my child,” Gao was quoted by CCTV as saying.

However, exchange of fire was averted as the foreign ship soon left the territorial waters, the report said.

The CCTV video has been trending on Chinese social media platform Weibo, watched nearly 50 million times by Friday.

Leave or bear consequences, China warns US destroyer near disputed islands

This comes as a recent study by the South China Sea Probing Strategic Situation Initiative, a Beijing-based think tank, showed US Navy aircraft carrier strike groups had not only increased South China Sea transits since last year, but were adopting more complicated and unpredictable routes and drill patterns.

In January, the Chinese and US militaries exchanged sharp words after an American warship sailed through the Paracel Islands in the South China Sea.

The PLA said it had warned off the guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold after it entered the disputed chain, while the US Navy denied that it had been warned off and said the mission was to defend the freedom of navigation.