A Canadian general criticized the Chinese air force over an incident off the coast of the Asian nation that apparently saw a fighter jet cut off a patrol plane and drop flares in its path.
The episode on Monday was reported by Global News, which had journalists on the Canadian surveillance aircraft. Chinese fighters also flew within 5m of the plane, it added.
“They became very aggressive and to a degree we would deem it unsafe and unprofessional,” Canadian Major-General Iain Huddleston told the Canadian news outlet.
Canada did not want to have “anything untoward happen that would result in loss of life,” he said.
Beijing filed a diplomatic complaint with Ottawa over the incident in the South China Sea, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning (毛寧) told a regular press briefing in Beijing yesterday, adding that in recent years Canadian planes have conducted reconnaissance “against China.”
“Canadian airships have made trouble at the doorstep of China,” she said. “Canada should respect facts and stop spreading false information.”
The Chinese Ministry of National Defense did not immediately respond to a faxed request for comment.
The incident highlights China’s frustration over Western military flights near its shores, though they are carried out in international airspace. In May, the Pentagon said a Chinese fighter jet that swerved in front of a US reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea behaved in an “unnecessarily aggressive maneuver.”
Last year, Chinese fighters reportedly buzzed Canadian planes in the region and released small pieces of aluminum in front of Australian aircraft.
Canada said the 13-member crew of the plane involved in the incident on Monday was part of a UN mission aimed at enforcing sanctions against North Korea to encourage the nation to end its nuclear weapons program.
The missions, which include Japan, France and the US, are aimed at spotting “evasion activities, in particular ship-to-ship transfers of fuel and other commodities,” Ottawa said.
In related news, Chinese and Japanese coast guard ships faced off in waters around disputed islands in the East China Sea, both countries said yesterday.
China said it drove away several Japanese vessels that “illegally” entered territorial waters on Monday around the islands, which it calls Diaoyutais (釣魚台), and it urged Japan to stop all “illegal activities” in the area.
Japan controls the islands and calls them the Senkaku.
Japan’s coast guard said in a press release it ordered two Chinese coast guard vessels to leave the waters around the islands and maneuvered its ships to prevent them from approaching Japanese fishing boats.
The uninhabited area has long been a sticking point in ties between the two countries.
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