“SHOCKING: Chinese Fighter’s ‘Aggressive’ Move Near US Plane Sends Pentagon into Frenzy!”

A Chinese fighter jet performed an “unnecessarily aggressive maneuver” near a U.S. military plane that was flying over the South China Sea last week, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

The US Indo-Pacific Command has released video footage of the incident, which is said to have occurred on Friday, as US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was en route to the region for a visit with stops in Japan, Singapore and India.

It was the latest in a series of similar meetings and comes at a time of heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing. The Chinese military has repeatedly rejected U.S. efforts to arrange a meeting between Austin and his Chinese counterpart, including one that could have taken place this week.

US military officials have accused Chinese People’s Liberation Army pilots of increasingly reckless behavior in the region, including a accident in December when a Chinese fighter jet flew within 6 meters of a US military aircraft operating in the South China Sea.

A US Department of Defense spokesman said the Chinese fighter jet came within 400 feet (about 121 meters) of the plane’s nose.

After the Chinese pilot “flew directly in front of the nose” of the RC-135, the US aircraft was forced “to fly through its wake turbulence,” the US military said.

The aircraft was “conducting safe and routine operations” in international airspace and would continue to do so “wherever international law permits,” the Pentagon added.

China, which claims most of the South China Sea and Taiwan, often accuses the United States of endangering peace in the region. Washington argues that its military operations support the rules-based international order against threats and coercion.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning said on Wednesday that the “provocative and dangerous” behavior by the United States was responsible for maritime tensions in the region and had “grossly violated China’s sovereignty and security.”

“China will continue to take the necessary measures to safeguard its security and sovereignty,” he added.

Last week’s incident highlights the risks of an unintended conflict between Beijing and Washington as diplomatic ties are fraying amid geopolitical and economic tensions.

In 2001, a US spy plane collided with a Chinese fighter approximately 70 miles off the coast of Hainan Island and the US plane was forced to make an emergency landing. Relations among the powers that crashed in the aftermath of the crash, which resulted in the interrogation and arrest of the crew by the Chinese military.

Biden administration officials have sought more meetings with their Chinese counterparts to try to stabilize relations with Beijing.

US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo met with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao last week in Washington, in what was the first high-level Chinese visit to the US capital since 2020. US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan recently met with Wang Yi, China’s top security official foreign policy, in Vienna.

However, China has not agreed to reschedule a visit in Beijing by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. He canceled a previously scheduled trip in February after the diplomatic fallout from the downing of an alleged Chinese spy balloon over the United States.

Additional reporting by Maiqi Ding in Beijing