The Pentagon says it has not lodged any formal complaint with China over what it says was an “unsafe” intercept of a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft flying in international airspace over the South China Sea, because the incident is still under investigation.
Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said, “This incident is under review, but certainly our air crew felt that this was not conducted in the safest and most professional way.”
Pentagon officials say on on Tuesday a U.S. EP-3 maritime patrol aircraft was approached by two Chinese J-11 fighter planes, which passed within 50 feet of the U.S. plane.
An initial Pentagon statement described the mission of the EP-3 as “a routine U.S. patrol in the South China Sea,” and said “initial reports characterized the incident as unsafe.”
After an incident in 2014, in which a Chinese fighter jet conducted aerobatic maneuvers around a U.S. aircraft, the U.S. and China agreed to new “rules of the road” to avoid confrontations, and have had more discussions as tensions have risen over disputed territorial claims in the South China Sea.
Over the past year the Pentagon said it had observed improvements in China’s actions, noting Chinese pilots were generally flying in a safe and professional manner.
“This is an area where we have not had a significant number of issues like this since some of the confidence-building measures over the last few months,” Cook said. But he declined to say whether this latest incident violated that agreement.
“Obviously this is a concern that something like this would happen. We’ll go through the review process and determine, what is any appropriate action is necessary,” he said.
China denies the intercept was unsafe, and says the U.S. plane was spying in the vicinity of Hainan Island. Fifteen years ago, another EP-3 flying near Hainan Island collided with a Chinese fighter jet, forcing an emergency landing for the U.S. crew of 24. They were detained by China for 10 days before being released.
The intercept comes as President Obama is preparing to travel to Asia to attend a Group of Seven summit in Japan next week.
The White House likewise cited progress “reducing risk” between U.S. operational forces and those of China.
“We’ve reduced that risk by improving dialogue at multiple levels under the bilateral confidence building measures, and the Military Maritime Consultative Agreement,” said Josh Earnest, President Obama’s top spokesman.
“These are established diplomatic and military channels that allow the United States and China to communicate clearly and raise concerns about these kinds of issues when they arise.”
Earnest also said the next maritime talks with China are scheduled to take place May 24 and 25 in Hawaii.
“So there is a well-established diplomatic and military channel to work through these concerns,” he said.
Pressed on whether the administration believes the Chinese timed the incident just before Obama leaves on a trip to Vietnam and Japan, said he would “hesitate to ascribe a motive at this point.”
Susan Crabtree contributed to this report.
