A Chinese military plane came within 10 feet of a U.S. Air Force plane within the disputed South China Sea last week and compelled it to perform evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision in international airspace, the U.S. military said Thursday.
The close encounter followed what america called a recent trend of increasingly dangerous behavior by Chinese military aircraft.
The incident involving a Chinese Navy J-11 fighter jet and a US Air Force RC-135 aircraft occurred on December 21, the US military said in a statement.
“We expect all Indo-Pacific countries to make use of international airspace safely and in accordance with international law,” it added.
A U.S. military spokesman said the Chinese jet came within 10 feet of the aircraft’s wing but 20 feet of its nose, causing the U.S. aircraft to perform evasive maneuvers.
![A Chinese Navy J-11 fighter was registered as it approached a U.S. Air Force aircraft on December 21, 2022.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/chinese-jet-dangerous-flyby-192.jpg?w=1024)
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The US has raised the difficulty with the Chinese government, one other US official said.
The Chinese embassy in Washington didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
Up to now, China has argued that the US sending ships and planes to the South China Sea shouldn’t be conducive to peace.
U.S. military aircraft and ships routinely conduct surveillance operations and travel across the region.
China claims vast areas of the South China Sea that overlap with the EEZs of Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Trillions of dollars in trade flow through the waterway annually, which also includes wealthy fisheries and gas fields.
![US Air Force C-135 RIVET JOINT aircraft image file.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2022/12/chinese-jet-dangerous-flyby-193.jpg?w=1024)
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At a meeting along with his Chinese counterpart in November, the US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin raised the necessity to improve crisis communication and likewise drew attention to what he called the damaging behavior of Chinese military aircraft.
Despite tensions between america and China, the U.S. military has long struggled to maintain lines of communication open with their Chinese counterparts to scale back the chance of potential outbreaks or take care of accidents.
Australia defense department said in June that a Chinese fighter plane dangerously intercepted an Australian military surveillance plane in May within the South China Sea region.
Australia said a Chinese jet flew right in front of an RAAF plane and released a “bunch of chaff” containing small pieces of aluminum that entered the Australian plane’s engine.
In June, the Canadian military accused Chinese warplanes of harassing their patrol planes while monitoring North Korea’s sanctions evasion, sometimes forcing Canadian planes to reroute.
Relations between China and america have been strained, with friction between the world’s two largest economies over every thing from Taiwan and China’s human rights record to military activity within the South China Sea.
Speaker of the US House of Representatives The Journey of Nancy Pelosi The attack on Taiwan in August infuriated China, which saw it as an attempt by america to interfere in its internal affairs. China then began military exercises near the island.
America doesn’t maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, but is legally obligated to supply the island with a means of self-defense.