On Tuesday, the US accused China of a “concerted” campaign of dangerous and provocative air force maneuvers against US military jets in international airspace that may lead to conflict.
An image from a video given by the US Department of Defence depicts a Chinese aircraft intercepting a US warplane. The Pentagon has revealed footage of Chinese aircraft intercepting US airplanes. AP Photograph
US Aircrafts Being Threatened by China
Chinese aircraft have threatened US planes flying over the East and South China seas more than 180 times since fall 2021, “more in the last two years than in the previous decade,” said Ely Ratner, US Assistant Secretary of Defense for Indo-Pacific Security Affairs. “That’s nearly 200 cases where [Chinese] operators have discharged chaff, flared, or approached too quickly or close to US aircraft,” Ratner told a news conference. “This type of operational behavior can cause accidents, and dangerous accidents can lead to inadvertent conflict,” Ratner said, adding that US allies had contributed to over 300 incidents since fall 2021.
Ratner claimed Beijing was trying “to perform these risky behaviors in order to coerce a change in lawful US operational activity.” “The US will not be intimidated. We will fly, sail, and operate safely and responsibly wherever international law allows, he said. A Chinese fighter plane “approached our asset at a speed of hundreds of miles per hour, clearly armed and closing to just 30 feet [9m] away,” according to Ratner, and stayed for more than 15 minutes. A nuclear-capable B-52 bomber was used in a weekend combined aerial rehearsal involving Japan, South Korea, and the United States, according to media reports.
An unnamed military source told Yonhap that Sunday’s trilateral exercise would be the first near the Korean Peninsula. The South Korean Ministry of Defence declined to confirm the claims but said the three nations were expanding collaborative exercises “to counter missile and nuclear threats from North Korea.” A source informed Yonhap that the South Korea-US-Japan joint aviation drill will include a formation flight with the US strategic bomber B-52 escorted by fighter jets from the three countries.
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