China protests US plane’s ‘breach into no-fly zone’

THE Chinese military strongly protests a high-altitude US spy plane trespassing into the no-fly zone that is currently hosting a live ammunition drill by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Northern Theatre Command, Ministry of National Defence spokesman Senior Colonel Wu Qian said in a statement on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, a Lock heed U-2 high a ltitude reconnaissance aircra f t trespassed into the no-fly zone, and “seriously disrupted China’s routine t raining activ it ies”, Wu said, adding that the manoeuvre a lso seriously v iolated Sino-US maritime and flight safet y codes and internationa l norms.

He said: “The incident can ver y easily lead to misunderstanding and misjudgement, and may even lead to an accident. It is a lso a blata nt act of provocation that China resolutely opposes.”

Wu said China has urged the US to stop similar provocations, and take concrete actions to maintain regional peace and stability.

According to local maritime safety administrations, China is currently hosting military drills in three of its adjacent waters, including the Bohai Sea, the Yellow Sea and the South China Sea.

The exercise in the Bohai Sea, which is t he nort hwestern and innermost gulf of the Yellow Sea bounded by t he coast lines of Hebei, Shandong and Liaoning prov inces, began on August 21 and ends on Friday. The drill in the South China Sea began on Monday and ends on Saturday.

The PLA Eastern Theatre Command said on Monday that its naval aviation units recently conducted full-day exercises in the East China Sea.