By Courtney Kube and Mosheh Gains - NBC News
A Chinese fighter jet flew directly into the nose of a U.S. reconnaissance plane over the South China Sea on Saturday, the Defense Department said Tuesday, in an incident that adds to a growing number of events involving military aircraft and ships coming from the communist country.
The "unnecessarily aggressive maneuver" of the Chinese J-16 jet forced the American RC-125 aircraft to fly through the turbulence created by the fighter, said the Pentagon, which released a video of the event.
The Pentagon said the U.S. aircraft was "conducting safe and routine operations ... in international airspace, in accordance with international law".
A J-16 fighter jet, from China, approaches a U.S. RC-135 aircraft on May 26, 2023.
A senior Defense Department official said, "We have seen an alarming increase in the number of risky aerial interceptions and confrontations at sea with aircraft and aircraft by the PLA [Chinese People's Liberation Army]. As leaders have said, actions of this kind have the potential to create an unsafe incident or miscalculation."
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The official said the video was not released until Tuesday because of the declassification process.
A spokesman for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said Washington's concerns about the incident "will be addressed through appropriate and established diplomatic and military channels."
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Late Monday, the Pentagon reported that China had rejected a U.S. request for Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to meet with his Chinese counterpart, Li Shangu, in Singapore. The Pentagon had suggested a meeting between Austin and Li Shangfu on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, a security forum to be held June 2-4.
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In February, a Chinese J-11 fighter jet came within 500 feet of the left wing of a U.S. P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft and remained in that position for more than an hour. The U.S. plane was flying over mostly uninhabited islands that China and its neighbors claim as their own.
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A voice from a Chinese military station on the ground warned the U.S. ship "not to get any closer or you will pay all the consequences."
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In December 2022, a Chinese plane passed within 10 feet of a U.S. plane.
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Two months ago, the Chinese military said it had forced the USS Milius away, after the U.S. guided-missile destroyer "illegally entered Xisha's territorial waters, [belonging to] China." The U.S. said it was conducting routine operations and that the ship had not been forced out.
