In what observers described as the second instance of potentially disastrous actions by the People’s Liberation Army against foreign aircraft in a week, a Chinese military helicopter flew within 10 feet (3 meters) of a Philippine patrol plane over the South China Sea on Tuesday.
An Associated Press reporter on board the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources’ single-engine Cessna Caravan plane, which was patrolling close to Scarborough Shoal, an uninhabited rock located roughly 140 miles (222 kilometres) west of the main Philippine island of Luzon, witnessed the incident on Tuesday.
Due to the Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative, Scarborough Shoal, which is surrounded by abundant fishing grounds, has been under Chinese effective control since 2012 even though it is located inside the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone.
According to the AP report, the Philippine plane’s captain warned the Chinese helicopter, “You are flying too close, you are very dangerous and endangering the lives of our crew and passengers,” during the roughly 30-minute encounter. The Chinese helicopter “expelled” the Philippine plane from “China’s territorial airspace,” according to a statement from the PLA’s Southern Theatre Command, which also claimed that Manila “has seriously violated China’s sovereignty.
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