China says intercepting US plane was legal, necessary
China’s defence ministry said on Tuesday that its pilots actions were legal, necessary and professional after two fighter jets intercepted a US Navy surveillance plane over the East China Sea at the weekend.
The ministry said the US plane threatened China’s national security, and urged the United States to immediately cease such military activities.
Two Chinese fighter jets intercepted a US Navy surveillance plane over the East China Sea at the weekend, with one jet coming within about 300 feet of the American aircraft, US officials said.
The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said initial reports showed one of the Chinese J-10 aircraft came close enough to the US EP-3 plane on Sunday to cause the American aircraft to change direction.
One of the officials said the Chinese jet was armed and the interception happened 80 nautical miles (148 km) from the Chinese city of Qingdao.
Chinese defence ministry said the actions of its pilots were “legal, necessary and professional” and performed “in accordance with the law and the rules”. “Close-in reconnaissance by US aircraft threatens China’s national security, harms Sino-US maritime and air military safety, endangers the personal safety of both sides’ pilots and is the root cause of unexpected incidents,” it said.
The US should immediately stop these military activities, which are unsafe, unprofessional and unfriendly, it added.
China monitors any US military activity around its coastline.
In 2001, an intercept of a US spy plane by a Chinese fighter jet resulted in a collision that killed the Chinese pilot and forced the American plane to make an emergency landing at a base on Hainan.
The 24 US air crew members were held for 11 days until Washington apologised. That encounter soured US-Chinese relations in the early days of former President George W Bush.
Separately, the Pentagon said the US military would soon carry out another test of it’s Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.
“These tests are done as a routine measure to ensure that the system is ready and... they are scheduled well in advance of any other real world geopolitical events going on,” Pentagon spokesperson Captain Jeff Davis told reporters.