Foreign military aircraft are expected to continue flying over Chinese-claimed waters in the East and South China seas, observers said after state media released details of a close encounter.
A documentary about the People’s Liberation Army aired by state broadcaster CCTV during the National Day holiday included a section about the role of navy pilots shadowing foreign planes.
A pilot told the programme: “In the East China Sea, there are often provocations from foreign military aircraft. In defence of sovereignty, we give tit-for-tat, and will never allow any reckless actions.”
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The broadcaster also showed a brief clip of one close encounter, which military analysts believe showed a Chinese J-10 fighter and Japanese EP-3C surveillance plane over China’s Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) in the East China Sea.
“The EP-3C is cruising straight and level at medium altitude, about 7,500 metres [24,600ft] and the fighter is undertaking a careful intercept from the EP-3C’s stern quarter, both to get high quality imagery and not to startle the crew of the EP-3C and possibly cause an accident or an evasive manoeuvre,” said Peter Layton, a retired Australian air force officer and an associate fellow of the London-based Royal United Services Institute.
“Both aircraft are being flown professionally. China is just observing what is happening in the international airspace near China; it is not aggressive.”
Japan and China have long had sovereignty disputes in the East China Sea, where China set up the ADIZ covering most of the waters in 2013. The zone overlaps with Japan’s and includes the Japanese-held Diaoyu Islands, known as the Senkakus in Japan, which are also claimed by China.
In May, Japan said it scrambled fighter jets when Russian and Chinese bombers flew close to its airspace during the Quad Summit hosted in Tokyo with the United States, Australia, and India.
There have also been a number of incidents involving American and Chinese warplanes over the years, most seriously back in 2001 when a Chinese pilot was killed when his plane collided with an American surveillance aircraft near Hainan Island.
This year US Pacific Air Forces Commander Kenneth Wilsbach revealed details of an encounter between F-35 and J-20 fighter jets over the East China Sea, saying his forces had been impressed by the professionalism of the PLA pilots.
Meanwhile, Australia accused a Chinese warplane of making a “dangerous manoeuvre” while shadowing one of its P-8 reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea in May.
Analysts said they expected the US and its allies would continue these operations in the East and South China seas.
“Major regional powers like Japan, India, and Australia – besides more globally far-flung powers like the USA and Britain – will continue to oppose Chinese sovereignty claims] by operating so-called freedom of navigation operations in both the South China Sea and the East China Sea. I would not expect to see these being diminished any time soon,” said Richard Bitzinger, visiting senior fellow at the S Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University.
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Layton said the US and Japan were likely to be the main presence in the East China Sea, while their Nato and Quad allies would perform more limited operations.
“There are unlikely to be Australian aircraft as Australia is focused on the South China Sea. Indian or European aircraft may be sent to exercise with the Japanese but they would mostly stay a long way away from the East China Sea,” he said.
“The European fighter aircraft are short range and the intelligence collection aircraft, like the EP-3C, would only be able to fly occasional missions and so be unlikely to collect any intelligence of value.”
He added China could respond by sending more fighter jets to intercept but would also be cautious about being spied on.
However, European military powers have stepped up their presence in the region in the past couple of years. Germany sent fighters to the country’s first-ever joint exercise with Japan, France took part in exercises with the US and Japan and Britain sent its Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier strike group to the South China Sea, prompting accusations from Beijing it was stirring up trouble.
Yoichiro Sato, a Asia-Pacific studies professor at Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University in Japan said Australia, India and the European powers were likely to send ships rather than planes to the East China Sea.
“The passage of naval ships by Australia and European friends of the Quad such as the UK and France through the East China Sea is likely to be regularised. Such passages will be most relevant to maintaining the customary law of free passage through the Taiwan Strait,” he said.
More from South China Morning Post:
- Chinese series highlights PLA pilots’ efforts to protect air defence identification zone
- China’s military steps up development of ship-based warplanes to keep up with aircraft carrier advances
- Taiwan says Chinese warplane crashed in disputed South China Sea
- China’s J-16D: a sign in the sky of a new electronic attack warplane threat to Taiwan?
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