US accuses China of unsafe mid-air encounter
By
Peter Symonds
26 July 2017
Washington’s claim that an American spy plane had to take evasive action during an encounter with a Chinese fighter jet off the Korean Peninsula has underlined the extremely tense situation as the US continues to threaten military action against North Korea.
The incident last Sunday involved a US Navy EP-3 reconnaissance aircraft and two Chinese J-10 fighters. Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis claimed that one of the Chinese fighters slowed, flew below the American plane and then emerged about 100 metres in front of it—a manoeuvre he branded as “unsafe”
Davis declared that the EP-3 was on “a routine mission” in international airspace. What the Pentagon regards as “routine,” however, is sending reconnaissance aircraft and ships to gather electronic and other intelligence on both China and North Korea.
According to Reuters, the spy plane was flying in the East China Sea just 80 nautical miles (150 kilometres) from the Chinese city of Qingdao, the home base for China’s North Fleet. Qingdao also sits opposite the Korean Peninsula. The Pentagon has, of course, not disclosed the nature of the EP-3 mission.
The Chinese defence ministry rejected the Pentagon’s claims and reiterated its opposition to US spy missions off the Chinese mainland. Spokesman Ren Guoqiang declared that the actions of the Chinese pilots had been “legal, necessary and professional.”
He called for an end to US spy missions, saying they “threatened China’s national security, harmed China-US sea-air military safety, endangered the safety of pilots from the two sides and were the root cause of China-US sea-air unexpected incidents.”
The EP-3 reconnaissance operation took place amid continued…