Shenyang J-11. Photograph. rhk111 (public domain)
A Chinese J-11 fighter jet, armed with four air-to-air missiles, lined up behind a U.S. patrol plane on Friday, flew over it, and descended several hundred meters from the Wall Street Journal, a U.S. Navy aircraft. WSJ”) reported. According to the US military, the long-term trend is increasing aggression by Chinese fighter pilots.
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“US aircraft, this is PLA (People’s Liberation Army) air force. You are approaching Chinese airspace. Keep a safe distance or you will be intercepted,” a Chinese military ground station told US pilots during the incident. The details of this have been published by the American newspaper.
Encounters like Friday’s in the South China Sea have become an almost daily occurrence and are becoming increasingly dangerous, US military officials say. “The long-term trend is increasing aggression” by Chinese fighter pilots, the captain said. Will Dorason, commander of US Naval Surveillance Aircraft in the Western Pacific and Indian Oceans.
“WSJ” reminds in December of last year that the US said that a Chinese fighter jet flew within six meters of a US spy plane in the South China Sea. Beijing said the US plane suddenly turned towards the fighter jet.
China has not responded to US calls to discuss security-risk military incidents.
China is dangerously provocative
This is not the first time this has happened, as Australia and Canada have reported that Chinese aircraft have carried out dangerous actions against their aircraft. In June, the Australian Ministry of Defense announced that Chinese warplanes had dangerously intercepted an Australian surveillance aircraft in the South China Sea in May. The ministry noted that the J-16 performed a dangerous maneuver that endangered the safety of the P-8 and its crew. Defense Minister Richard Marles added that the Chinese jet had flown too close to an RAAF plane to set off flares and intercept an Australian surveillance plane. The Chinese jet later used “chaff” dipoles, a system that resisted the radar bearings in the form of small pieces of aluminum that went into the engine of the Australian aircraft.
In May, Australian forces spotted a Chinese spy ship 50 nautical miles off Australia’s west coast, from a large defense facility used by Australian, US and allied submarines. In February this year, a serious incident took place – one of the Australian patrol aircraft detected a laser aimed at him from the deck of a People’s Liberation Army naval vessel.
Between April 26 and May 26, 2022, People’s Liberation Army Air Force aircraft made multiple approaches to a Canadian CP-140 Aurora Royal Canadian Air Force long-range patrol aircraft, the Canadian Armed Forces said in a statement in June.
The behavior of Chinese pilots poses a serious threat to US pilots or US allies. In 2001, a Chinese fighter jet collided with a US Navy surveillance plane in the South China Sea, killing the Chinese pilot and forcing the US plane to make an emergency landing on Hainan Island. The Chinese government held the 24 American crew members for more than a week, releasing them only after a letter of apology was sent by the US ambassador to China.
China has long claimed islands in the disputed South China Sea. In a speech in Singapore in 2015, Chinese Supreme Leader Xi Jinping said the islands had been under Chinese control since ancient times and that Beijing had now militarized parts of them. The United States does not recognize these territorial claims and routinely conducts actions there, including freedom of navigation through the South China Sea.
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