WASHINGTON — A Chinese fighter jet this week flew within 30 feet of a Navy surveillance and reconnaissance plane in international airspace just off the Chinese coast, the Pentagon said Friday.
The encounter, known as an intercept, was “very very close, very dangerous,” said Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary.
The Pentagon filed a diplomatic complaint to the People’s Liberation Army on Friday morning, Defense Department officials said. As of Friday afternoon, the Pentagon had not received a reply.
The episode began with the Chinese warplane flying closely underneath the Navy P-8 Poseidon. It then moved parallel to the naval plane, with the wingtips of the two planes separated by less than 30 feet. The planes were nose to nose.
As a final maneuver, the Chinese fighter executed a barrel roll, apparently to show off its weapons payload to the American pilot. A barrel roll is just as it sounds — a fighter jet rolls over and then levels out.
“This kind of behavior is not only unprofessional, it’s unsafe,” Admiral Kirby said.
The intercept is bound to increase the already heated tensions between the Pentagon and the Chinese military over Beijing’s aggressive action against Japan and other American allies concerning territory in the South China Sea.
Earlier this year, China refused to invite Japan to a naval parade it hosted, which the Defense Department then boycotted as well. One American defense official lamented the whole thing was “so totally high school.”
NYTimes.
