Two Chinese fighter jets intercepted a U.S. Navy surveillance plane near Hong Kong on Wednesday, with one coming within 200 yards of the U.S. aircraft, according to multiple news reports.
Officials said initial reports showed that the Navy P-3 surveillance plane was in international airspace 150 miles southeast of Hong Kong when Chinese J-10 fighter jets carried out an “unsafe” intercept of the aircraft.
One of the Chinese jets flew in front of the Navy plane, restricting the P-3’s ability to maneuver, then conducted a series of slow turns which the American crew considered unsafe, Fox News reported.
{mosads}The incident came before a Navy destroyer on Thursday sailed within 12 nautical miles of Mischief Reef, which houses Chinese-built artificial islands in the South China Sea created to promote Chinese territorial claims in the area.
Officials said the destroyer’s move was meant to show that its pass-by was not “innocent passage,” which is when a warship recognizes a territorial sea by crossing it quickly and without stopping, and was instead to demonstrate that “Mischief Reef is not entitled to its own territorial sea, regardless of whether an artificial island has been built on top of it.”
This is the second such incident since President Trump has taken office. In February, a Chinese KJ-200 early warning aircraft encountered a Navy P-3C aircraft, also in international airspace over the South China Sea.
The two planes got within 1,000 feet of each other and the Pentagon called it an “unsafe” encounter.
And in May 2016, U.S. officials said two Chinese aircraft carried out an unsafe intercept of an American military reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea.