A Chinese fighter pilot made an “unwarranted aggressive maneuver” near a US military reconnaissance aircraft operating over the South China Sea, the US military said on Tuesday, AFP reported.

The incident comes at a time of already high tensions between Beijing and Washington over issues such as Taiwan and the flight of a Chinese hot air balloon over US territory in late 2022.

The Chinese aircraft flew “directly in front of and less than 120 meters from the nose of the RC-135 on Friday, forcing the US aircraft to pass through wake turbulence,” the US Indo-Pacific Command (IndoPacom) said in a statement. , communicated

The RC-135 military reconnaissance aircraft “conducted safe routine operations over the South China Sea and in international airspace in accordance with international law,” IndoPacom added.

The video footage released shows the fighter jet flying past the US plane, which appears to be shaking from the turbulence caused by the flyby.

A senior US military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was a “disturbing increase in the number of risky aerial interceptions and collisions at sea” by Chinese aircraft and ships.

Such actions “could create a dangerous incident or miscalculation,” he added.

“We do not believe (these intercepts) are being carried out by pilots operating independently,” the senior official said, adding that “we believe this is part of a larger, repeated pattern.”

A similar incident involving a Chinese fighter jet and a US RC-135 occurred in December, prompting the US aircraft to “take evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision”, IndoPacom said at the time.

The announcement of this latest incident came a day after the Pentagon said Beijing had declined a US invitation to host a meeting between Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu in Singapore this week.

But, according to a high-ranking American official, these two statements are unrelated.