Australia reaches out to China over fighter jet encounter

PERTH (Bloomberg): Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the Australian government has reached out to Beijing to raise concerns over what he described as a "dangerous manoeuvre” between a Chinese fighter jet and an Australian surveillance plane over the South China Sea.

According to Australia’s Department of Defence, a RAAF P-8 aircraft was undertaking routine maritime surveillance activity in the region on May 26 when it was intercepted by a Chinese J-16 fighter aircraft. The Chinese jet flew "very close to the side” of the P-8 aircraft, before cutting in front of the Australian plane and releasing a "bundle of chaff which contains small pieces of aluminum,” Defence Minister Richard Marles (pic) said Sunday.