The US military vowed on Monday to press ahead with surveillance flights near China despite opposition from Beijing, after reports Chinese jets crossed a boundary with Taiwan to pursue a US spy plane. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was asked about a June 29 incident in which two Chinese Sukhoi-27 fighters briefly crossed a line in the center of the Taiwan Strait that is considered an unofficial air boundary between both countries. Asian media reported the Chinese jets were attempting to intercept a US U-2 reconnaissance plane. “We won’t be deterred from flying in international airspace,” Mullen told reporters in Washington in response. “The Chinese would see us move out of there. … We’re not going to do that, from my perspective. These reconnaissance flights are important.” His spokesman later told Reuters that Mullen did not have specific knowledge of the reported incursion and was only speaking generally about the US right to conduct surveillance flights in international airspace in the region. The Pentagon did not immediately confirm or deny details about the incident. Chinese jets regularly attempt to intercept US reconnaissance aircraft to show they are aware of the US presence. Still, Mullen said it was important not to repeat what happened in 2001, when a US Navy surveillance plane collided with a Chinese fighter jet trying to intercept it over the South China Sea.
