According to the publication, in recent weeks, the United States has stepped up intelligence activities off the southern coast of China. In particular, we are talking about night flights of the E-8C aircraft, which was created on the basis of a passenger airliner, which makes it difficult to identify it.
The material notes that such a flight on August 5 was one of the reasons for the recent talks between the US and Chinese Defense Ministers Mark Esper and Wei Fenghe.
According to the interlocutor of the publication, the E-8C was identified as a military aircraft only when it approached the Chinese province of Guangdong, which poses risks to civil aviation amid tensions in Washington and Beijing. The interlocutor stressed that the South China Sea is "one of the busiest international air spaces in the world."
On August 6, the heads of China and the Ministry of Defense held talks, during which they discussed the situation in the Taiwan region and in the South China Sea.