Two Chinese fighter jets intercepted a US Navy surveillance plane over the South China Sea on Wednesday, with one coming within 200 yards (180 meters) of the American aircraft, US officials told Reuters.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said initial reports showed that the U.S. P-3 Orion surveillance plane was 150 miles (240 km) southeast of Hong Kong in international airspace when the Chinese aircraft carried out the unsafe intercept.
One Chinese aircraft flew in front of the American plane, restricting its ability to manoeuvre.
The Pentagon confirmed that two Chinese jets had carried out the intercept, saying it was “unsafe and unprofessional.”
“We continue to review the facts of this incident and will convey our concerns through appropriate channels with the Chinese government,” Pentagon spokesman Navy Commander Gary Ross said in a statement.
A U.S. Navy warship sailed within 12 nautical miles (22 km) of an artificial island built up by China in the South China Sea, US officials said on Wednesday, the first such challenge to Beijing in the strategic waterway since US President Donald Trump took office.
China is deeply suspicious of any US military activity around its coastline, especially in the resource-rich South China Sea, parts of which are disputed by China and its smaller neighbours, including the Philippines, Vietnam and Malaysia.
Incidents such as Wednesday’s interception are not uncommon.
Earlier this month, two Chinese SU-30 aircraft intercepted a US aircraft designed to detect radiation while it was flying in international airspace over the East China Sea.
Nuke china
aww aren’t you the original one. Listen here buddy I completely understand how you feel. Here’s a microwave and a china map, you can put it in there and live your dream come true. Be sure to put your head in there while you are at it too, judging from your post history no harm will be done ; )
Just like NATO is pushing and poking at Russia from Eastern Europe, the US is trying to stir up trouble along China’s coasts. Sure sign of a declining superpower trying to be top dog for jus a bit longer. Unfortunately for this dog, the rest of the world are able to see clearly what really is going on!
Deep seated hatred requires seeing a psychiatrist.
Try to not hit each other, our plane or put yours in the drink again. Other than that a little air show fun is just fine, though a little immature. You don’t control all airspace or all the sea. No one does. That’s the point you don’t seem to get at all. Grow up and be a good neihgbor. We all want you as a friend not just another impudent unruly kid.
Hang yourself
Quang Nguyen real Nguyen family go back thousand of years in The Yangtze region thousand of years ago. No real Nguyen will invite evil force to nuke it’s own people.
Low Shen-Cheang b.s
Impudent unruly kid? sounds like the US, a brazen and an uncouthed kid with matches in one hand and a can of fuel in the other setting fire where ever it goes and will soon self-immolatate.
Except for invading and destruction of other defenceless nations and war mongering I don’t ever remember for a very, very long time it doing anything good for the good of the world.
The point is the reporting is missing half the story: US planes are intercepted conducting MILITARY surveillance missions SPECIFICALLY against China. No "friend" does that to the clear objection of the other party. The immature thing is US hiding behind whats suppose to be intended for CIVILIAN freedom of overflight for its own military purposes against China and come up with manipulative news titles to cover itself up , in effect demanding hassle free surveillance environment to be used against China for US military LOL…good luck with that!
The real news title should be "US once again compalined China conducted close intercept when US military plane was condutcting surveillance missions against China".
Also, we are NOT neighbors. If US is right next to China then one can understand the constant intercepts and frictions. But the truth is US is freaking thousands of miles away but comes all the way to ~100 miles of Chinese coast line to spececifically conduct missions against China. China is damn within every godamn reason to keep such activity on a tight watch, failure to do so the government officials in charge should be sacked for negligence of duty!
Its like someone parading up and down the street in front of your house in a loud souped up car. He will insist that he is on public property and not private property. You are going to get a baseball bat and wave it around, saying you are disturbing the peace and waking everyone up. So whose the unruly one?
Someone needs to read up on history. Vietnam was never an entity until north vietnam (the Nguyens) conquered the tribes in (now) south vnetname and in the process wiped out a civilisation that was buddhist based. Now the big question was where did the (north) vnetnamese come from? In the early formative days of the vietnamese civilisation, they adopted Confucious culture even more avidly than the Chinese. I leave it to you to speculate as to why.
Zheng He yes impudent kid. Your pathetic response proves it. YOU DON"T CONTROL THE ENTIRE SEA. Get over yourself.
Zheng He also you obvious child WE saved you from Japan. Oh yeah, you haven’t been taught that. You only know your Chinese BS. Pay attention. BTW, try to control your agent Kim in N before you have a fire on your border….again. You won’t be so lucky this time if you fight against us again if we have to smack Lil Boy Kim. This president isn’t a wimp like that one was. Try being a responsible world power, until then get used to surveillance. Of course you do this all day long, but lie about it and that’ll make you righteous. Keep pissing off every neighbor and stealing areas of the sea that are in NO WAY connected to your mainland. We don’t do that, but maybe we should. You are only at 2/3 our economy. You should stop picking a fight before you get one. Be a neighbor, friend, competitor, but STOP insisting you MUST be our damn enemy before you get your wish.
Yes we see you are a bot. Hey blind man bot: Russia is very aggressively threatening every western border state and beyond and China is destroying and stealing islands all over the sea including threats of war against anyone that dares point it out. Well, TOO DAMN BAD. WE are pointing it out. WE will travel the sea freely whether you like it or not. Especially if you don’t like it. We don’t need your cheap products, maybe you have had a free hand in trade with us long enough. You are way too much trouble to put up with.
Paul Moss Surely u mean Ukraine isnt it? Thats a lot of every western border. Each one his own. One superpower threatned ONE country. Another superpower bombs Iraq, Libya, Sudan and Syria for democracy and freedom. China takes hald a dozen uninhabited islands out of hundreds mostly disputed. Lets hope you get what you wish for.