A Chinese newspaper on Saturday warned the U.S. military that projecting China's actions in the Indo-Pacific region as "dangerous" will worsen the "risk of friction and conflict."
The editorial from the Global Times, a nationalistic English-language tabloid published by the propaganda department of the ruling Communist Party, was referencing a video that the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) released earlier this week. The short clip shows the pilot of a Shenyang J-11 flying within 10 feet of a U.S. Air Force B-52 over the South China Sea, most of which China claims as its territory.
The Chinese pilot "demonstrated poor airmanship by closing with uncontrolled excessive speed, flying below, in front of, and within 10 feet of the B-52, putting both aircraft in danger of collision," the Indo-Pacific Command said in a statement. "We are concerned this pilot was unaware of how close he came to causing a collision."
According to the Indo-Pacific Command, the American pilot was conducting routine nighttime operations in international airspace during the encounter on Tuesday. They said that the intercept was conducted "in a manner contrary to international air safety rules and norms."
The Global Times, whose views do not always reflect official policy in China, wrote on Saturday that "the US' false claims are not tenable at all," adding that "anyone with even a little specialized knowledge will find that the PLA [People's Liberation Army] pilot's nighttime interception demonstrated...
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