A day after WSJ reported that China confronted a US warship that came within 12 miles of one of China's artificial reefs built in disputed waters in the South China Sea, Reuters is reporting that two Chinese fighter jets also carried out an intercept of a US military surveillance plane near Hong Kong on Wednesday, with one plane coming within 200 yards of the American aircraft.
If the report is to be believed, it means there were two near-confrontations between Chinese and American forces on the same day – a clear sign that, despite Trump’s turn toward friendly rhetoric in his dealings with the Chinese, tensions between the world’s two largest economies continues to rise.
According to Reuters, which sourced the story to anonymous US officials, initial reports of the incident showed that the US P-3 surveillance plane was 150 miles South East of Hong Kong in international air space when the Chinese aircraft carried out an unsafe intercept of the plane.
One Chinese aircraft flew in front of the American plane, hampering its ability to maneuver.
The report follows a similar incident from last week, when two Chinese Su-30 fighter jets came within 150 feet of a U.S. Air Force WC-135 radiation detection plane while it was flying over the Yellow Sea in international airspace.
via http://ift.tt/2qrDwsW Tyler Durden