Nearly a year after China halted military efforts to counter US aerial surveillance operations in Asia, Beijing is once again stepping up hostile encounters toward US aircraft. In February and last week, China used dangerous aerial encounters in a bid to pressure the United States to halt spying from international airspace.
The most recent incident took place near the tension-filled Korean Peninsula when two Chinese Su-30 jets flew close to a nuclear-particle-sniffing WC-135 aircraft flying over the Yellow Sea and then over the northern East China Sea. One of the Chinese aircraft flew upside down, while passing within about 50 meters of the US Air Force jet, prompting protests from the Hawaii-based Pacific Air Forces.
Lieutenant-Colonel Lori Hodge, a Pacific Air Forces spokeswoman, said the incident took place as the WC-135 Constant Phoenix jet, a militarized Boeing 707, was operating in international airspace.
Read the entire article at Asia Times.
