Beijing blames US for South-China-Sea fighter jet incident

AFP | Beijing

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com    

Beijing blamed US “provocation” yesterday for an incident last week in which a Chinese plane crossed in front of an American surveillance aircraft over the South China Sea.

The incident comes at a time of frayed ties between Washington and Beijing over issues including Taiwan, which China regards as its territory, and the shooting down of an alleged Chinese spy balloon that flew over the United States this year.

“The United States’ long-term and frequent sending of ships and planes to conduct close surveillance on China seriously harms China’s national sovereignty and security,” foreign ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said when asked about the latest incident.

“This kind of provocative, dangerous activity is the cause of the security issues on the seas,” Mao said, calling on Washington to “immediately stop this form of dangerous provocation”.

The US military said on Tuesday a Chinese fighter pilot had performed an “unnecessarily aggressive maneuver” near an American surveillance aircraft operating over the South China Sea last week.

Video footage released by the US military shows a Chinese fighter plane crossing in front of the American aircraft, which can be seen shaking from the resulting turbulence.

But China’s military said on Wednesday the US jet “broke into” a military training area.

“A US RC-135 reconnaissance plane deliberately broke into our training area to carry out reconnaissance and interference,” Chinese military spokesperson Zhang Nandong said.