US says Chinese jet did unsafe intercept in East China Sea

WASHINGTON – The U.S. says a Chinese fighter jet intercepted an American reconnaissance plane at an “excessive” rate of speed in international airspace over the East China Sea on Tuesday.

Navy Cmdr. Dave Benham says the initial assessment is that it was improper airmanship, and there were no other unsafe manoeuvrs.

This is the second such incident in the past month.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei says Beijing strongly objects to U.S. spy missions near its coast. He says they seriously undermine China’s maritime and airspace security.

Hong says the Chinese aircraft operate lawfully and professionally.