A Chinese military plane came within 10 feet (3 meters) of a U.S. air force aircraft in the contested South China Sea last week and forced it to take evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision in international airspace, the U.S. military said on Thursday.
The close encounter followed what the United States had called a recent trend of increasingly dangerous behavior by Chinese military aircraft.
The incident, which involved a Chinese Navy J-11 fighter jet and a U.S. air force RC-135 aircraft, occurred on Dec. 21, the U.S. military said in a statement.
“We expect all countries in the Indo-Pacific region to use international airspace safely and by international law,” it added.
A U.S. military spokesperson said the Chinese jet came within 10 feet of the plane’s wing but 20 feet from its nose, which caused the U.S. aircraft to take evasive maneuvers.
A separate U.S. official said that the United States has raised the issue with the Chinese government.
The Chinese embassy in Washington, D.C., did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In the past, China has said that the United States sending ships and aircraft into the South China Sea is unsuitable for peace.
U.S. military planes and ships routinely carry out surveillance operations and travel through the region.
China claims vast swathes of the South China Sea that overlap with the exclusive economic zones of Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
Despite tensions between the United States and China, U.S. military officials have long sought to maintain open lines of communication with their Chinese counterparts to mitigate the risk of potential flare-ups or deal with any accidents.
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