Pentagon: Chinese jets fly close to US spy plane

Two Chinese fighter jets intercepted a USA spy plane in “international airspace” in a maneuver characterized as “unsafe”, US defense officials said Wednesday.

“Defense Department spokesperson Lt. Col. Michelle Baldanza said the US maritime patrol aircraft was engaged in a “routine patrol” on Tuesday when it was intercepted, according to NBC News”.

China has been asserting its territorial claims over most of the South China Sea, which is believed to have large oil and gas deposits.

Washington has accused Beijing of militarizing the South China Sea after creating artificial islands while Beijing, in turn, has criticised increased USA naval patrols and exercises in Asia.

The Vietnam Fisheries Association has issued a denunciation of China’s illegal ban on fishing in the East Sea.

Much to Beijing’s chagrin, the U.S. military has conducted several “freedom of navigation” operations, in which planes or ships pass within a 12-nautical-mile buffer around the Chinese installations.

He added that Vietnam has sufficient legal foundations and historical evidence testifying to its sovereignty over Hoang Sa and its legitimate rights over its waters, which are specified in line with the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Xi Jingping, China’s president, told Barack Obama in April that China considers the patrols to be a violation of Chinese sovereignty – a point reiterated later by China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei in an interview with Reuters.