A U.S. Navy patrol plane and a Chinese jet had an “unsafe” encounter over the South China Sea earlier this week, the U.S. Pacific Command said Friday.
The “interaction” between the U.S. Navy P-3C plane and a Chinese KJ-200 took place in international airspace over the waters, Robert Shuford, a spokesman for the command, said in a statement. He didn’t specify what was unsafe about the encounter.
A U.S. official said that the aircraft came within 1,000 feet of each other near the Scarborough Shoal, which is located between the Philippines and the Chinese mainland.
Shuford said, “The U.S. plane was on a routine mission and operating according to international law. The KJ-200 is a propeller airborne early warning and control aircraft which is based off the Soviet An-12.”
