U.S. says China jet ‘buzzed’ an Air Force plane over international waters
Global News
China seems to be continuing its practice of "buzzing" Western aircraft as a new incident with a U.S. plane has come to light over the South China Sea in international airspace.
China seems to be continuing its practice of “buzzing” Western aircraft as a new incident with a U.S. plane has come to light.
According to the United States Indo-Pacific Command, a Chinese J-16 fighter jet performed an “unnecessarily aggressive maneuver” near the U.S. Air Force’s RC-135 aircraft on May 26 by flying directly in front of the nose of the aircraft, “forcing the U.S. aircraft to fly through its wake turbulence.”
The incident was caught on video and the cockpit can be seen shaking following the encounter.
The incident occurred over the South China Sea in international airspace while the aircraft was conducting “safe and routine operations,” the U.S. said in a statement released Tuesday.
“The United States will continue to fly, sail, and operate — safely and responsibly — wherever international law allows,” the statement read. “We expect all countries in the Indo-Pacific region to use international airspace safely and in accordance with international law.”
The recent maneuver, which is known as “buzzing,” is not the first incident reported from Chinese aircraft by Western allies.
Global News reported nearly a year ago that roughly 60 such incidents have occurred between Chinese and Canadian aircraft since Christmas 2021, with over two dozen of those incidents deemed dangerous.
Sources said that China had come as close as 20 feet to a Canadian aircraft — so close that Canadian pilots could make eye contact with the Chinese pilots, who sometimes raised their middle fingers.