U.S., China Trade Charges over Spy Plane Incident in South China Sea

The U.S. and China pointed fingers at each other regarding a recent incident that could have led to American RC-135 spy plane and a Chinese J-11 fighter colliding mid-air on December 21.

People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Southern Theatre Command accused the U.S. Navy of engaging in “dangerous maneuvers” against its J-11 during the latter's close-in reconnaissance over the South China Sea. The U.S. military’s side of the story is that its own plane was “forced to take evasive maneuvers” after the Chinese jet came within 20ft (6m) of it. Both sides shared videos documenting the incident.

“The U.S. statement disregarded the truth and is pure slander and hype,” said Senior Colonel Tian Junli, a spokesperson of the PLA Southern Theater Command, in a statement on Saturday.

Tian claims the RC-135 conducted intentional close-in reconnaissance on China's southern coastline and the Xisha Islands of Hainan. “Despite multiple warnings from the Chinese side, the U.S. aircraft suddenly altered its flight stance, pushed the Chinese aircraft toward left in a dangerous approach movement, which seriously compromised the flight safety of the Chinese military aircraft, severely violated the Rules of Behavior for Safety of Air and Maritime Encounters between China and the U.S. as well as related international law and practices,” the spokesperson said.

Another expert told the Global Times, “From the video released by the Chinese side, it is obvious that the U.S. aircraft actively maneuvered left toward the Chinese aircraft, verifying that it was the U.S. side that engaged in dangerous moves.”

“On the other hand, the video release by the U.S. only showed the Chinese aircraft flying alongside the U.S. aircraft without making any dangerous maneuvers,” the expert added.

In what could be called an action to ruffle American feathers, Beijing also simulated an attack on U.S. Navy task group the same day.

On December 21, according to the South China Sea Probing Initiative, the U.S. sent three P-8A maritime patrol aircraft, one RC-135V aircraft, and one E-3G AWACS plane from Clark Air Base and Kadena Air Base to operate over the South China Sea and south of the Taiwan Strait. The RC-135V in question could very well have been the one intercepted by the J-11.

A source was quoted as saying by the Western media that a strike group led by the Shandong simulated attacks on a U.S. Navy formation.