WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Chinese fighter jet carried out an “unnecessarily aggressive” maneuver near a U.S. military plane over the South China Sea in international airspace, the United States said on Tuesday.
In a statement, the United States’ military command responsible for the Indo-Pacific said the Chinese J-16 aircraft carried out the maneuver last week and forced the U.S. RC-135 plane to fly through its wake turbulence.
Such intercepts happen occasionally. In December, a Chinese military plane came within 10 feet (3 meters) of a U.S. air force aircraft and forced it to take evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision in international airspace.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali; Editing by Leslie Adler)
