China turns tables on US ally over Yellow Sea figh...

China turns tables on US ally over Yellow Sea fighter jet manoeuvre

Newsweek - China has defended the actions of an air force pilot who was accused of endangering an Australian helicopter crew during an air intercept over the weekend, arguing on Tuesday that the US ally had deliberately sent the aircraft to disrupt a Chinese military exercise.

Zhang Xiaogang, a Chinese Defence Ministry spokesperson, said the Chinese military’s actions were “legitimate, reasonable, professional and safe,” according to a statement posted to its website.

Australia, part of the ANZUS security treaty with New Zealand and the United States, said a day earlier that a Chinese air force J-10 fighter jet had buzzed an MH-60R Seahawk on May 4 in the Yellow Sea, calling it “an unsafe and unprofessional interaction” in international airspace.

The US has in recent years complained of several similar intercepts. Last fall, the US Defense Department disclosed a series of manoeuvres by Chinese aircraft that resulted in near-misses with American air assets in international airspace.

Australia’s Defence minister, Richard Marles, said the Chinese combat aircraft dropped flares 1 000 feet in front and 200 feet above the MH-60R, forcing the operator to “take evasive action in order not to be hit by those flares”.

“The consequence of being hit by the flares would have been significant,” Marles said.

Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese called the manoeuvre “unacceptable”.

The helicopter, whose crew was not harmed, was attached to the Australian navy destroyer HMAS Hobart, deployed to the region under Operation Argos, Canberra’s contribution to enforce UN Security Council sanctions on North Korea, Australia’s Defence Department said.