An aerial photo taken though a glass window of a Taiwanese military plane shows the view of Itu Aba, which the Taiwanese call Taiping, at the South China Sea, on March 23, 2016. Reuters file photo
Washington, May 19
Two Chinese fighters have conducted an "unsafe" intercept of a US spy plane in international air space over the South China Sea, the Pentagon said, as tensions mount in the strategically vital waters.
Tensions between China and the United States are high in the disputed waterway, an important shipping route thought to be home to vast energy deposits, and which Beijing claims almost in its entirety.
"The Department of Defence (DoD) is reviewing a May 17 intercept of a US maritime patrol reconnaissance aircraft by two tactical aircraft from the People's Republic of China (PRC)," Pentagon spokesman Major Jamie Davis said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Initial reports characterised the incident as unsafe," he added, without giving additional details.
The incident comes more than a decade after a collision between a Chinese fighter jet and a US Navy EP-3 spy plane, which killed the Chinese pilot and forced the US aircraft to make an emergency landing on the Chinese island province of Hainan.
The crash, which occurred in 2001, unleashed an 11-day standoff as Beijing interrogated the 24 US crew, and held the plane for several months, seriously straining relations between the countries.
They have traded accusations and warnings over such surveillance flights in subsequent years.
The Chinese defence ministry said in a statement faxed to AFP on Thursday that they "noted" reports of the latest incident and said it "is very likely linked to the extremely close surveillance of China by US military aircraft".
Beijing has been building islets in the South China Sea into artificial islands with military facilities including radar systems and airstrips.
Regional neighbours such as Vietnam and the Philippines have rival claims and the United States says China's assertions have no basis in law.
Washington — which is embarked on a foreign policy "pivot" towards Asia — fears Beijing is seeking to impose military controls over the entire area. — AFP
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