A Chinese fighter jet recently carried out “an unsafe maneuver” while it was close to a U.S. Air Force plane over the South China Sea, forcing the U.S. aircraft to “take evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision,” the U.S. military announced on Dec. 29.
The encounter on Dec. 21 involved a People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy J-11 fighter jet and a U.S. Air Force RC-135 aircraft, a large reconnaissance aircraft.
The U.S. aircraft was lawfully conducting routine operations over the South China Sea in international airspace, according to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, which oversees U.S. military operations in the region….