US President Barack Obama’s administration on Friday accused a Chinese fighter jet of conducting a “dangerous intercept” of a US Navy surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft off the coast of China in international airspace — the fourth such incident since March.
Pentagon press secretary Rear Admiral John Kirby said Washington protested to the Chinese military through diplomatic channels, calling the fighter pilot’s actions “unsafe and unprofessional.”
US officials said this is at least the second formal complaint US diplomats have filed with the Chinese over these military actions in recent months.
Photo: AFP
At a news briefing at Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, US Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Communications Ben Rhodes called the intercept “a deeply concerning provocation” and suggested it could set back efforts to improve relations.
“What we’ve encouraged is constructive military-to-military ties with China and this kind of action clearly violates the spirit of that engagement,” Rhodes told reporters.
US officials said it appears that the same Chinese military unit out of a base on Hainan Island was responsible for similar aggressive “close intercepts” in March, April and May. The officials refused to provide any details of the previous incidents, but said the US filed a similar formal complaint with the Chinese in May.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the previous incidents publicly.
Kirby said the maneuvering by the Chinese jet on Tuesday posed a risk to the safety of the US air crew, was “inconsistent with customary international law” and complicates efforts to improve military-to-military relations, which are often strained.
Kirby said the Chinese jet made several close passes by the US Navy P-8 Poseidon plane, coming within 9m of it at one point. He said the Chinese jet did a “barrel roll” maneuver over the top of the Poseidon at one point and also passed across the nose of the navy plane, exposing the belly of the fighter in a way apparently designed to show that it was armed.
Kirby said it happened about 217km east of China’s Hainan Island.
POLITICAL AGENDA: Beijing’s cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival events are part of a ‘cultural united front’ aimed at promoting unification with Taiwan, academics said Local authorities in China have been inviting Taiwanese to participate in cross-strait Mid-Autumn Festival celebrations centered around ideals of “family and nation,” a move Taiwanese academics said politicizes the holiday to promote the idea of “one family” across the Taiwan Strait. Sources said that China’s Fujian Provincial Government is organizing about 20 cross-strait-themed events in cities including Quanzhou, Nanping, Sanming and Zhangzhou. In Zhangzhou, a festival scheduled for Wednesday is to showcase Minnan-language songs and budaixi (布袋戲) glove puppetry to highlight cultural similarities between Taiwan and the region. Elsewhere, Jiangsu Province is hosting more than 10 similar celebrations in Taizhou, Changzhou, Suzhou,
The Republic of China (ROC) is celebrating its 114th Double Ten National Day today, featuring military parades and a variety of performances and speeches in front of the Presidential Office in Taipei. The Taiwan Taiko Association opened the celebrations with a 100-drummer performance, including young percussionists. As per tradition, an air force Mirage 2000 fighter jet flew over the Presidential Office as a part of the performance. The Honor Guards of the ROC and its marching band also heralded in a military parade. Students from Taichung's Shin Min High School then followed with a colorful performance using floral imagery to represent Taiwan's alternate name
COGNITIVE WARFARE: Chinese fishing boats transmitting fake identification signals are meant to test Taiwan’s responses to different kinds of perceived incursions, a report said Chinese vessels are transmitting fake signals in Taiwan’s waters as a form of cognitive warfare, testing Taipei’s responses to various types of incursions, a report by the Institute for the Study of War said on Friday. Several Chinese fishing vessels transmitted fake automatic identification system (AIS) signals in Taiwan’s waters last month, with one mimicking a Russian warship and another impersonating a Chinese law enforcement vessel, the report said. Citing data from Starboard Maritime Intelligence, the report said that throughout August and last month, the Chinese fishing boat Minshiyu 06718 (閩獅漁06718) sailed through the Taiwan Strait while intermittently transmitting its own AIS
CHINESE INFILTRATION: Medical logistics is a lifeline during wartime and the reported CCP links of a major logistics company present a national security threat, an expert said The government would bolster its security check system to prevent China from infiltrating the nation’s medical cold chain, a national security official said yesterday. The official, who wished to stay anonymous, made the remarks after the Chinese-language magazine Mirror Media (鏡周刊) reported that Pharma Logistics (嘉里醫藥物流) is in charge of the medical logistics of about half of the nation’s major hospitals, including National Taiwan University Hospital and Taipei Veterans General Hospital. The company’s parent, Kerry TJ Logistics Co (嘉里大榮物流), is associated with the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the
RSS