VIDEO: Beijing blames US 'provocation' for South China Sea fighter jet incident
A videograb shows the Chinese military passing by a US military reconnaissance plane.
The Chinese government on Wednesday denounced the US "provocation" after an incident between a Chinese fighter plane and a US military reconnaissance plane, which was flying over the South China Sea.
"These provocative and dangerous maneuvers are a source of problems for maritime security," said Mao Ning, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, stressing that "the United States must immediately stop these dangerous provocations."
Footage released by US Defence Visual Information Distribution Service (DIVIDS) on May 30, showed the People's Republic of China J-16 fighter pilot performing a maneuver near a US Air Force RC-135 aircraft on 26 May 2023.
On Tuesday, the US military announced that a Chinese pilot had made an "unprovoked aggressive maneuver" near a US military reconnaissance aircraft operating over the South China Sea.
This comes at a time when relations between Beijing and Washington are already experiencing severe tensions over issues such as Taiwan and the flight of a Chinese balloon over the United States in late 2022.
