US, Chinese planes 'inadvertently' close in South China Sea
The aircraft came within 305 meters of each other in the vicinity of the Scarborough Shoal, between the Philippines and the Chinese mainland
A U.S. Navy P-3 plane and a Chinese military aircraft came close to each other over the South China Sea in an incident the Navy believes was inadvertent, a U.S. official told Reuters on Thursday. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the aircraft came within 1,000 feet (305 meters) of each other on Wednesday in the vicinity of the Scarborough Shoal, between the Philippines and the Chinese mainland. The official added that such incidents involving Chinese and American aircraft are infrequent, with only two having taken place in 2016. The U.S. aircraft was "on a routine mission operating in accordance with international law," U.S. Pacific Command told Reuters in a statement. "On Feb. 8, an interaction characterized by U.S. Pacific Command as 'unsafe' occurred in international air space above the South China Sea, between a Chinese KJ-200 aircraft and a U.S. Navy P-3C aircraft," it said. The KJ-200 is a propeller airborne early warning and control aircraft based origina...
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