Australian Surveillance Plane Cut Off by Chinese Fighter Jet
- Incident occurred May 26 and risked safety of plane and crew
- China foreign minister urged ‘concrete actions’ to reset ties
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Australia said one of its surveillance planes was cut off by a Chinese fighter jet in international airspace over the South China Sea in the latest encounter between the militaries of the two countries.
The RAAF P-8 aircraft was undertaking routine maritime surveillance activity on May 26 when it was intercepted by a J-16 fighter aircraft that “resulted in a dangerous maneuver which posed a safety threat” to the P-8 and its crew, the Department of Defence said in a statement Sunday.