The Pentagon released a video showing a Chinese fighter jet swerving in front of a U.S. jet last week, an event the Pentagon called "unnecessarily aggressive."
"We expect all countries in the Indo-Pacific region to use international airspace safely and in accordance with international law," the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement. The incident took place on May 26 over the South China Sea, where a Chinese J-16 fighter flew "in front of the nose of the RC-135, forcing the U.S. aircraft to fly through its wake turbulence," a statement from the Indo-Pacific Command said. The Pentagon called it an "unnecessarily aggressive maneuver."
The Chinese military said the American jet intruded on its training area. A spokesman for China's embassy in the United States accused the U.S. military of posing "a serious danger to China’s national security" through its "close-in reconnaissance."
"We solemnly urge the U.S. side to effectively restrain the front-line forces of the sea and the air, strictly abide by relevant international law and relevant agreements and agreements [sic], and prevent accidents in the sea and the air," a spokesperson for China's Southern Theatre Command said.
U.S. officials said they will continue to fly "wherever international law allows."