Chinese Fighter Conducts 'Unsafe' Intercept of US Reconnaissance Plane, US Officials Say

— -- A Chinese fighter jet came within 100 feet alongside a U.S. Air Force RC-135 reconnaissance plane flying over the East China Sea today, U.S. officials said, noting the crew of the American plane characterized the maneuver as "unsafe."

It was the second close encounter between American and Chinese aircraft in the last three weeks, according to U.S. officials.

"U.S. Pacific Command has reviewed the details of an intercept of a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft (US Air Force RC-135) on a routine patrol by two Chinese jets (J-10s) that occurred on June 7 (local time), in international airspace, over the East China Sea," said Commander Dave Benham, a spokesman for U.S. Pacific Command in a statement issued late Tuesday.

"One of the intercepting Chinese jets had an unsafe excessive rate of closure on the RC-135 aircraft. Initial assessment is that this seems to be a case of improper airmanship, as no other provocative or unsafe maneuvers occurred. The Department of Defense is addressing the issue with China in appropriate diplomatic and military channels."

"An unsafe excessive rate of closure" means the J-10 fighter jet approached the RC-135 aircraft at a high speed.

On May 17, a U.S. Navy EP-3 Ares electronic surveillance aircraft flying in international airspace 50 nautical miles east of China's Hainan Island in the South China Sea was intercepted by two Chinese J-11 fighters, according to U.S. officials.

The Chinese fighters came within 100 feet of the American plane and one of them conducted "a barrel-roll" around the American plane, U.S. officials said. In the risky maneuver, a plane comes alongside another aircraft to executes a full 360-degree roll above it.

The U.S. filed a protest with China about the May 17 incident through diplomatic channels, U.S. officials said.

This past weekend Admiral Harry Harris, the commander of U.S. Pacific Command, told reporters in Singapore that "unsafe" air encounters with China are rare. He said there are opportunities in place for the United States military to discuss with China's military how to work out such encounters in a positive manner.

"We've seen positive behavior the last several months with China," said Harris at a press conference at the annual Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. "Every now and then you'll see an incident in the air that we may judge to be unsafe.

"Those are really over the course of time rare," he added. A few weeks ago the U.S. and China had a bilateral Military Maritime Consultative session in Hawaii. "That was a very productive session," said Harris. "And that's an opportunity for us and China to work through these incidents that we experienced on the high seas and in the air, to work through them in a positive way."