Pentagon declares that China’s interception of an American reconnaissance plane violated rules on how to govern air-to-air encounters, but Chinese authorities say otherwise.
A report from Reuters revealed a statement from the United States Defense Department declaring that the Chinese's interception of a U.S. aircraft last week is a clear violation of rules agreed upon by countries regarding air-to-air encounters in international airspace.
However, China's Ministry of Defense argued that their fighter jets did not break any rule during the interception and reacted in line with the agreement, per a separate report from Reuters.
Pentagon's Statement
Last week, two Chinese J-11 fighter jets intercepted an American EP-3 spy plane that is reportedly performing a "routine U.S. patrol" in the international space above the hotly contested South China Sea territories.
At the time, Pentagon reacted by calling the act "unsafe" compared to the People's Republic of China's (PRC) previous flights, as the Chinese aircraft flew within 50 feet or 15 meters of the American plane in the airspace east of Hainan Island.
"Over the past year, DoD has seen improvements in PRC actions, flying in a safe and professional manner," Telegraph UK quoted Pentagon's statement.
Now, the American defense department is claiming that China has violated rules that have been set by an agreement of several countries on the matter of airspace encounters.
"The review of the Chinese intercept of one of our reconnaissance aircraft has assessed the intercept to have been unsafe based upon the Memorandum of Understanding with China and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards," USDD spokesperson Bill Urban told Reuters on Thursday.
China's Demand
In response, China remains indignant of the U.S. Defense's statement and insisted that their fighter jets performed in a professional manner and did not break any rule.
Yang further noted that the Rules of Behaviour for Safety of Air and Maritime Encounters only provides "technical standard" and called for the U.S. to stop reconnaissance flights to prevent this from ever happening again.
"That's the real source of danger for Sino-U.S. military safety at sea and in the air," he added.
China had repeatedly urged the U.S. to back off of maritime disputes along the South China Sea, where the Asian giant claims most territories which serve as passage for over $5 trillion worth of trade annually.
Based on previous reports, the U.S. is backing other South China Sea claimants against China including the Philippines, which had brought the issue to international arbitration, and Vietnam, where American President Barack Obama visited early this week.