In the South China Sea, US Navy Patrol Aircraft and Chinese Fighter Jets Face Off at 150m Distance

An F/A-18E Super Hornet fighter jet belonging to the U.S. Navy is landing on the flight deck of the Nimitz aircraft carrier sailing in the South China Sea on the 6th.
[Photo by AP. Yonhap News]

On the 24th (local time), a tense situation unfolded in the skies over the South China Sea where a U.S. Navy patrol aircraft and a Chinese fighter jet engaged in a nerve-wracking standoff, CNN reported.

The U.S. Navy patrol aircraft P-8 Poseidon was flying at 21,500 feet (about 6.5 km) over the South China Sea, approximately 48 km away from the Chinese military base in the Paracel Islands (Chinese name: Xisha Islands, Vietnamese name: Hoang Sa Islands).

At that time, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) sent a warning message to the U.S. patrol aircraft to not approach any further. Minutes later, a Chinese fighter jet armed with air-to-air missiles closely followed the U.S. Navy plane from the left side at a distance of only 500 feet (about 152 m), blocking the U.S. aircraft.

A CNN reporter aboard the U.S. patrol aircraft said the Chinese fighter jet was so close that they could see the Chinese pilots and the red star symbolizing China on the tail of the fighter jet, as well as the missiles mounted on the aircraft.

The Chinese fighter jet flew alongside the U.S. Navy patrol aircraft for about 15 minutes, then stopped responding for a while before turning away and departing, CNN reported. CNN described the incident as a stark example of the tensions between the U.S. and China in the South China Sea.

However, U.S. Navy Commander Mark Hines downplayed the event, saying, "I would say it was just another Friday afternoon in the South China Sea."

China claims sovereignty over most of the South China Sea, leading to disputes with neighboring countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Brunei, as well as with the international community including the United States. In December last year, a PLA Navy J-11 fighter jet confronted a U.S. Air Force RC-135 reconnaissance aircraft within 20 feet (about 6 m) in international airspace over the South China Sea during routine operations.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.