Chinese Intercepts of U.S. Planes Expose Limits of Warming Ties: Adam Entous and Josh Chin
http://online.wsj.com/articles/midair-encounter-of-chinese-jet-and-u-s-surveillance-plane-exposes-limits-of-warming-ties-1408896137?mod=trending_now_2
Some U.S. Officials Say Aggressive Maneuvers Could Involve Rogue Pilots
The U.S. says rogue Chinese pilots may be responsible for recent close encounters in airspace above the South China Sea. But as Sam Rogevveen of the Lowy Institute explains, China continues to flex its muscles in pushing its territorial claims in the region.
U.S. Navy planes have had a series of dangerously close encounters with Chinese fighter jets during routine patrols above the South China Sea, U.S. officials said, in what they described as an alarming trend that may involve rogue pilots.
The incidents complicate what has been an unusually cooperative period for the two militaries. They underscore how deep-seated suspicions remain, despite attempts by some senior officers and political leaders on both sides to build a working relationship.
The Pentagon on Friday made public what it characterized as a particularly aggressive encounter on Tuesday. U.S. officials later said that at least three similarly provocative incidents occurred earlier this year in the same general location, all in international airspace.
The earlier incidents prompted the U.S. to issue démarches, or diplomatic protests, to Beijing, U.S. officials said. In those démarches, the U.S. raised concerns about what it described as “the unsafe and unprofessional behavior” of Chinese pilots in the South China Sea, a senior U.S. official said.
U.S. officials aren’t sure why the incidents keep taking place in the same general location, and said the midair encounters may be attributable to a rogue pilot or group of pilots in a squadron responsible for intercepts in the South China Sea.
These officials said they don’t believe the aggressive flying was directly authorized by the Chinese military.
“The Chinese are trying to be more active in establishing good quality military-to-military relations. There’s just something different and unique about what’s going on in the South China Sea,” a senior U.S. official said. “Something’s out of whack.”
U.S. officials said the intercepts were alarming because they increased the chances of an unintentional collision.
Chinese fighters continue to conduct routine intercepts of Navy patrol aircraft in the East China Sea and other areas without incident, the officials said. In each of the dangerous encounters earlier this year in the South China Sea, the Chinese fighters moved unusually close to the Navy planes, they said.
In the earlier incidents, as on Aug. 19, the Chinese fighters performed a series of maneuvers at close range to the Navy aircraft, including cutting in front of its nose at a 90-degree angle and rolling over the top of the U.S. aircraft, according to U.S. officials briefed on the moves.
The encounters have generally lasted between four and five minutes. A senior U.S. official said the Navy has been flying the same route over the South China Sea for years. During encounters, the U.S. pilots are supposed to maintain a steady course to avoid increasing the chances of a collision and to document the Chinese pilots’ behavior.
Washington and Beijing have painted clashing pictures of the Aug. 19 encounter between the U.S. Navy P-8 surveillance aircraft and a Chinese J-11 fighter well to the east of China’s island province of Hainan.
The Pentagon says the Chinese jet acted aggressively, making multiple passes under the U.S. aircraft at close range, with the planes at one point coming nearly wingtip to wingtip and the jet rolling to expose its armaments. China’s defense ministry rejected that depiction as “totally untenable,” saying its pilot was professional and maintained a safe distance.
Chinese Navy Rear Adm. Yin Zhuo, in an interview with state television on Sunday, expressed the view that the U.S. plane was likely tracking China’s nuclear submarines. A major submarine base is located on Hainan. The U.S. P-8, which is capable of flying at speeds faster than most patrol aircraft, is specifically designed to look for submarines.
U.S. officials rebutted China’s contention that the aerial maneuvers were acceptable. “The only place I know where 20 feet between wingtips is considered a safe distance is a Blue Angels show,” a senior U.S. defense official said, referring to the Navy’s aerobatic team.
Chinese officials had no immediate comment on the earlier incidents cited by U.S. officials.
The U.S. alarm over the midair encounters appeared to be at odds with recent public comments by top U.S. officials who have sought to showcase what they describe as improved military-to-military ties.
The U.S. and China disagree about an encounter Tuesday between a P-8 surveillance aircraft, shown above, and a Chinese fighter jet. Reuters
In June and July, China made its debut as a participant in the annual U.S.-led Rim of the Pacific drills, or Rimpac, the world’s largest multinational naval exercise. In April, U.S. and Chinese naval officials, along with other Asia-Pacific naval chiefs, agreed to the region’s first code of conduct for unplanned encounters between navy ships and aircraft.
Last month, U.S. Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert, chief of naval operations, said that there had been no reports of harassment or bad behavior between U.S. and Chinese ships since the April code of conduct.
Wariness between the militaries, however, has remained and been exacerbated in part by the countries’ strategies. China is trying to establish itself as a Pacific power after spending heavily for decades to build up its military. The U.S., meanwhile, has been trying to raise its presence in the region to reassure allies with whom Beijing is jostling over contested maritime claims.
Tuesday’s interception by the Chinese fighter jet “was a form of admonishment” to the U.S. for spying at China’s doorstep, said Xu Guangyu, a former People’s Liberation Army general who now works as a senior researcher at the China Arms Control and Disarmament Association. “As long as the U.S. continues to undertake this kind of unfriendly action, China will continue to issue this kind of warning.”
In July, for example, U.S. Navy officials revealed that China sent an uninvited surveillance ship to monitor the Rimpac exercises from international waters off Hawaii. Although the Chinese ship didn’t enter U.S. territorial waters, U.S. Navy officials said it was the first time a Rimpac participant had sent a ship to spy on the drills.
China has also qualified its commitment to April’s code of conduct. Shortly after the code was approved, a senior Chinese navy official said the rules were only recommendations and that China wouldn’t necessarily abide by them in encounters in disputed areas of the East and South China seas.
China’s Ministry of Defense didn’t immediately respond to a query about whether the pilot of the J-11 fighter in this month’s encounter was acting in accordance with the code.
Some analysts have said that China may be preparing to declare an air defense zone in the airspace above the South China Sea similar to one it announced last November for the East China Sea. A U.S. national security official has said such a move would be provocative and destabilizing.
The encounters have also exposed a long-running sore point about U.S. surveillance. The U.S. maintains all vessels have a right to freedom of navigation outside another country’s territorial waters, which extend 12 nautical miles from the coast under international law. China has at times said that freedom doesn’t apply to military surveillance and mapping and has bristled at the presence of U.S. military aircraft and ships coming so close to its shores.
“This happens all the time. China has shown quite a bit of restraint,” said Mr. Xu, the retired general. He said that continued surveillance by the U.S. threatened to undo previous diplomatic efforts. “The U.S. actions are so contradictory. The two sides should be conducting more joint-exercises, mutual visits and the like. You shouldn’t be doing things that irritate the other side.”
The location and nature of the most recent interception recalls a 2001 incident in which a U.S. EP-3 spy plane collided with a fighter jet that Pentagon officials said was making dangerous maneuvers. The U.S. aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing on Hainan. China held the American crew members for 11 days, in a diplomatic crisis that heightened the Pentagon’s chariness about the People’s Liberation Army.
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