US military planes and ships regularly carry out surveillance operations in the region. China lays claim to large swathes of the South China Sea that encroach on the exclusive economic zones of several countries.
Last week, a Chinese military aircraft came within three meters of a US Air Force plane over the South China Sea in international airspace, and the forced him to perform maneuvers to avoid a collision, the U.S. military said in a statement.
The incident, which involved a Chinese Navy J-11 fighter jet and a US Air Force RC-135 jet, happened on December 21 but was not made public until this Friday, reports Reuters.
“We expect all countries in the Indo-Pacific region to use international airspace safely and in accordance with international law,” the US military wrote.
A disputed area
A US military spokesman said the Chinese plane approached within 3 meters of the plane’s wing and 6 meters from its nose, causing the US plane to perform evasive maneuvers.
US military aircraft and ships regularly carry out surveillance operations in the region. China claims large swathes of the South China Sea that overlap with the exclusive economic zones of Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Billions of dollars in trade pass through this waterway each year, which is also home to rich fishing grounds and gas deposits.
In the past, China has said that the US sending ships and planes to this area is not conducive to peace.
Growing tensions
A spokesperson for the U.S. Army Indo-Pacific Command cited by the New York Times said to have “seen an alarming increase in the number of dangerous aerial interceptions and confrontations at sea by planes and ships (Chinese military)”.
“This latest incident therefore reflects a disturbing trend of unsafe and unsafe practices by (the Chinese military), which is of great concern to the United States,” he added.
Despite tensions between the United States and China, U.S. military officials have long worked to maintain open lines of communication with their Chinese counterparts to mitigate the risk of conflagration or deal with possible mishaps. , recalls Reuters.
Relations between China and the United States are strained, with friction between the world’s two largest economies over topics as diverse as Taiwan, China’s human rights record or its military activity in South China Sea.
