Recently, the Pentagon has recorded “dangerous maneuvers” performed by Chinese military aircraft against American aircraft and their allies in international airspace. This was stated by US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on June 2 during the Shangri-La Dialogue security forum in Singapore.
“The People’s Republic of China continues to conduct an alarming number of dangerous interceptions of US and allied aircraft legally flying in international airspace. And we all just clearly saw another case of aggressive and unprofessional flight by the PRC,” he said.
According to Austin, the United States seeks to preserve the right of all countries to freely fly, swim and operate where international law allows. At the same time, he announced the expansion of US activities in the Indo-Pacific region to counter territorial claims from China and warned of devastating consequences in the event of a conflict over Taiwan, writes The Washington Times.
As reported Global TimesOn May 26, an American RC-135 military reconnaissance aircraft approached the area where the Shandong aircraft carrier group was training in the South China Sea, because of which Chinese aviation organized surveillance and monitoring of the movement of the air reconnaissance aircraft.
In turn, Washington said that the Chinese J-16 fighter performed an “unnecessarily aggressive” maneuver during the interception of a US Air Force aircraft when it was conducting “safe flights over the sea in international airspace.”
US President Joe Biden on May 21 expressed hope for an early thaw in relations between Washington and Beijing. He stressed that the US and China should have an open hotline.
In turn, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said that China is not sure that the United States really wants to establish contacts with it, as the White House continues to impose sanctions, including technological ones, against Beijing.
Relations between the US and China deteriorated sharply after the visit of the Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in August last year. Beijing considers the island to be its own territory, therefore, it considers the visit of the island by officials of other countries as support for the independence of Taiwan.
#Pentagon #accused #China #committing #dangerous #maneuvers #relation #aircraft