Chinese fighter jet’s brazen barrel roll over a U.S. surveillance aircraft leaves Americans indignant
National Post Wire Services | August 27, 2014
US NavyA US Navy P-8A Poseidon takes off from Naval Air Station (NAS) Jacksonville, Florida on November 29, 2013. The P-8A planes, converted Boeing 737s equipped with advanced radar and anti-ship missiles, are designed to hunt submarines and track other vessels at sea.
China’s Defence Ministry has rejected U.S. accusations that a Chinese fighter jet conducted a “dangerous intercept” of a U.S. Navy surveillance aircraft off the southern Chinese coast.
Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun called the U.S. accusations “groundless” and said the Chinese pilot conducted operations that were “professional and the Chinese jet kept a safe distance from the U.S. planes.”
Yang called the Chinese flights “routine identification and verification.”
Pentagon press secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby gave a different account Friday of the Aug. 19 encounter about 220 kilometres east of China’s Hainan Island. He said the Chinese jet made several close passes by the Navy P-8 Poseidon plane, coming within 9 metres of it at one point.
Kirby said that included the Chinese jet doing a “barrel roll” manoeuvre over the top of the modified Boeing 737 and passing across the nose of the Navy plane apparently to show that it was armed.
Kirby said the Chinese jet’s manoeuvring posed a risk to the safety of the U.S. air crew and was “inconsistent with customary international law.”
Guang Niu/AFPA Chinese Navy submarine is among 56 subs, destroyers, frigates, missile boats and planes displayed off the eastern port city of Qingdao just weeks after tensions flared following a naval stand-off with the United States in the South China Sea.
He said it was the fourth such incident since March of “close intercepts” involving Chinese jets.
The Chinese statement also said that a Navy P-3 Orion, an anti-submarine and surveillance aircraft, flew alongside the Poseidon. The Pentagon did not mention the second aircraft.
Tensions between the two countries have risen in the South China Sea, as China disputes territorial claims with U.S. ally the Philippines, Vietnam and other neighbours.
A week after a close encounter between a U.S. and Chinese jet, Taiwan sent fighter jets to tail two Chinese military planes that entered the island’s air space.
“We responded immediately, asking them to leave,” Taiwan defence minister Yen Ming said Tuesday in Taipei.
Fighter jets were dispatched to warn the Chinese surveillance aircraft, each of which entered Taiwan airspace twice on Aug. 25, to leave, David Lo, spokesman for the Ministry of National Defence, said by phone Wednesday.
Tensions remain between China and Taiwan even as economic relations have strengthened since Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou took office in 2008. The two sides have been governed separately since China’s Nationalist government fled across the Taiwan Strait to the island during a civil war with Communist forces. China still claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has indicated it will take it back by force if necessary.
AFP PHOTO / Ed JonesA general view shows the Yalong Bay in the popular tourist resort area of Sanya, on the southern Chinese island of Hainan on April 5, 2013.
As China increases its economic and military muscle, encounters with other nations’ militaries have been on the rise. U.S. aircraft had at least two previous run-ins with Chinese jets this year prior to last week’s encounter, and Japanese and Chinese planes and ships regularly tail one another around disputed islands in the East China Sea.
China’s defense ministry confirmed it carried out “routine flight activities in relevant airspace” on Aug. 25, “with no unusual occurrences,” according to a faxed response to questions Wednesday.
As China increases its economic and military muscle, encounters with other nations’ militaries have been on the rise. U.S. aircraft had at least two previous run-ins with Chinese jets this year prior to last week’s encounter, and Japanese and Chinese planes and ships regularly tail one another around disputed islands in the East China Sea.
Under no circumstances and under no rubric of military relations is it acceptable to fly a jet fighter around a reconnaissance airplane the way that was done
China’s defense ministry confirmed it carried out “routine flight activities in relevant airspace” on Aug. 25, “with no unusual occurrences,” according to a faxed response to questions Wednesday.
Yang called on the U.S. to scale back its submarine surveillance in the area to avoid further incidents. Chinese and U.S. officials will meet this week to discuss a military code of conduct for the region as part of an existing plan to avoid such incidents, China Daily reported, citing China’s defence ministry.
Yang called on the U.S. to scale back its submarine surveillance in the area to avoid further incidents. Chinese and U.S. officials will meet this week to discuss a military code of conduct for the region as part of an existing plan to avoid such incidents, China Daily reported, citing China’s defence ministry.
“Under no circumstances and under no rubric of military relations is it acceptable to fly a jet fighter around a reconnaissance airplane the way that was done,” Rear Admiral John Kirby said at briefing Tuesday in Washington.
“That said, that doesn’t meant that the relationship isn’t still worth pursuing, and we continue to look for avenues to try to increase the dialogue and the cooperation and the understanding and the transparency between our two countries.”
Kirby said that the U.S. would continue to fly in international airspace “the way we’ve been” doing.
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