The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command says a Chinese fighter jet conducted an "unnecessary aggressive" maneuver while intercepting a US spy plane in international airspace over the South China Sea on May 26.
The Chinese J-16 fighter flew directly in front of the US RC-16, forcing it to cross an air bullet. Such interceptions sometimes occur, Reuters notes, citing an incident in December when a Chinese military aircraft came within 3 meters of a US Air Force plane and forced it to carry out maneuvers to avoid collisions.