The US military said that a Chinese military aircraft came "unsafely" close to a US fighter on December 21, and forced it to perform an evasive maneuver to avoid collision in international airspace over the South China Sea last week.
He added - in a statement today, Thursday - that a Chinese J-11 fighter jet approached a distance of 6 meters from an American RC-135 fighter, forcing its pilot to evade to avoid a collision between the two planes.
The statement considered the recent incident an indication of an increasing trend, recently, by Chinese fighters to adopt dangerous behavior.
He stated that the US joint forces in the Indian and Pacific Oceans region devote their efforts to a free and open area, and will continue to fly, sail and operate at sea in international airspace, with due consideration for the safety of all ships and aircraft under international law.
US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin - during a meeting with his Chinese counterpart in November - raised the issue of the need to improve communication in times of crisis, warning of what he described as the dangerous behavior of Chinese fighters.
In June, the Australian Ministry of Defense said that a Chinese fighter aircraft had dangerously intercepted an Australian military reconnaissance aircraft in the South China Sea in May.