Pentagon: Chinese Fighter Jet Taunting U.S. Aircraft ‘Undermines’ U.S.-China Relations

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The Pentagon confirmed Friday that a Chinese fighter jet made “several passes” by a U.S. Navy aircraft earlier this week off the coast of China in international airspace. The Chinese Su-27 interceptor conducted a “barrel roll” maneuver over the Navy P-8 Poseidon at a proximity the Pentagon characterized as “very close,” aggressively baring its weapons.

Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said Washington has already protested China through diplomatic channels and called the maneuver “very dangerous.”

“Not only is it unprofessional, it’s unsafe,” Kirby said.

The Chinese have sought a closer military-to-military relationship with the U.S., but have also engaged in several aggressive actions. Last year, in November, China scrambled two fighter jets to patrol their recently announced “air defense identification zone,” after the U.S., Japan, and South Korea had flown military aircraft through in defiance of their East China Sea claim. Beijing said that all planes planning to enter the maritime area between China, Taiwan, South Korea and Japan must first notify Chinese authorities prior, otherwise, unspecified defensive actions would be taken against those nations who do not abide by the new zone’s boundaries.

Rear Admiral Kirby said the Chinese jet made several close passes by the Navy P-8 Poseidon plane, which was not in the air defense zone, coming within 30 feet of it. He said the Chinese jet also passed across the nose of the Navy P-8 Poseidon, exposing the belly of the fighter in a manner designed to intimidate the Navy pilot by showing that it was armed.

Kirby said it happened about 135 miles east of Hainan Island.

“We have registered our strong concerns to the Chinese about the unsafe and unprofessional intercept which posed a risk to the safety and the wellbeing of the air crew and was inconsistent with customary international law,” he said. “Also … this undermines efforts to continue developing military-to-military relations with the Chinese military.”

The Washington Free Beacon first reported on the incident, saying the P-8 was conducting routine surveillance when the Chinese Su-27 interceptor carried out a barrel roll over the U.S. plane.

As reported by the Free Beacon, this is the second such encounter this year with a U.S. surveillance aircraft – following an incident in April involving a Russian Su-27 flying close to a U.S. Air Force aircraft north of Japan.