Beijing dismissed on Saturday the Pentagon’s accusations that a Chinese fighter jet flew too close to a US military aircraft off Hainan Island, blaming “massive and frequent” surveillance for dangerous mid-air confrontations in state media.
US Rear Admiral John Kirby said on Friday the armed Chinese warplane came close to the P-8 Poseidon US surveillance aircraft three times, flying underneath the US plane, at the P-8’s nose and then in parallel with the wingtips, less than 9m apart.
In approaching the P-8 Poseidon, the Chinese jet at one point performed a barrel roll, apparently to display its weapons, in what Kirby called a “very dangerous” intercept.
Chinese Ministry of National Defense spokesman Yang Yujun (楊宇軍) called the claims “totally groundless” in a statement cited by Xinhua news agency, lashing out at the US military for conducting surveillance operations close to Chinese waters.
Yang said the fighter jet pilot was a safe distance away and making regular checks on the surveillance aircraft during Tuesday’s confrontation in international waters about 220km east of Hainan Island.
It was the US, and its “massive and frequent close-in surveillance of China” that endangered air and marine security, Xinhua quoted Yang as saying.
The episode this week has raised tensions and underlined the growing rivalry between the US and China, with Beijing building up its military and asserting its territorial claims across the Pacific.
The move also threatened to jeopardize longstanding US efforts to bolster relations with China’s military, at a time when officials have touted progress in forging a dialogue with Beijing’s top brass.
The skies over Hainan Island were the scene of a major international incident in April 2001, when a Chinese fighter jet collided with a US Navy EP-3 spy plane.
The collision left the Chinese pilot dead and forced the US plane to make an emergency landing on Hainan. Chinese authorities initially detained the 24-member US crew for more than a week, until both governments worked out a face-saving deal for their release.
Washington and Beijing have long disagreed over aviation and maritime rights in the strategic South China Sea, with the US insisting the area is part of international waters and airspace.
China says it is part of the country’s exclusive economic zone.
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Taiwan must capitalize on the shock waves DeepSeek has sent through US markets to show it is a tech partner of Washington, a researcher said China’s reported breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) would prompt the US to seek a stronger alliance with Taiwan and Japan to secure its technological superiority, a Taiwanese researcher said yesterday. The launch of low-cost AI model DeepSeek (深度求索) on Monday sent US tech stocks tumbling, with chipmaker Nvidia Corp losing 16 percent of its value and the NASDAQ falling 612.46 points, or 3.07 percent, to close at 19,341.84 points. On the same day, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Sector index dropped 488.7 points, or 9.15 percent, to close at 4,853.24 points. The launch of the Chinese chatbot proves that a competitor can
‘VERY SHALLOW’: The center of Saturday’s quake in Tainan’s Dongshan District hit at a depth of 7.7km, while yesterday’s in Nansai was at a depth of 8.1km, the CWA said Two magnitude 5.7 earthquakes that struck on Saturday night and yesterday morning were aftershocks triggered by a magnitude 6.4 quake on Tuesday last week, a seismologist said, adding that the epicenters of the aftershocks are moving westward. Saturday and yesterday’s earthquakes occurred as people were preparing for the Lunar New Year holiday this week. As of 10am yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) recorded 110 aftershocks from last week’s main earthquake, including six magnitude 5 to 6 quakes and 32 magnitude 4 to 5 tremors. Seventy-one of the earthquakes were smaller than magnitude 4. Thirty-one of the aftershocks were felt nationwide, while 79
RSS