China scrambles fighters to confront US warplanes based in South Korea
The American warplanes made a rare approach towards China’s air defence identification zone over the Yellow Sea, local media reported
US and Chinese fighter jets have engaged in a rare stand-off over the Yellow Sea, according to media reports in South Korea.
This comes at a time when the United States has been trying to shift the focus of its troops stationed in the country away from North Korea to concentrate more on China.
The incident on Wednesday involved around 10 US F-16s, which took off from Osan Air Base around 65km (40 miles) south of Seoul and flew west over the Yellow Sea as part of a training operation, according to reports citing South Korean military sources.
As the F-16s approached China’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ), Beijing responded by scrambling its own fighter jets, in what South Korea’s MBC news described as a “brief” face-off.
The US planes did not enter the Chinese ADIZ and the Chinese planes did not enter the South Korean one.
The US has not released any information about Wednesday’s operation, but it is rare for its planes to approach the Chinese air defence zone over the Yellow Sea.