To increase military pressure on China, the U.S. military sent a large number of warplanes on a week-long flight in the East China Sea in late June, during which they were strongly warned by Chinese warplanes, Kyodo News quoted several Japanese government officials as saying on July 25.
During the flights, some U.S. warplanes crossed the so-called “China-Japan East China Sea median line” and approached the Chinese mainland, the report said. In response, Chinese forces also took off their warplanes and warned the U.S. warplanes that “if they provoke, they will be hit back.”
Japanese air force received prior notification from the U.S. military, and the air force did not send fighter jets to participate in the U.S. operation, but only deployed E-2C and E-767 early warning aircraft in nearby airspace for surveillance. The Japanese media said that the U.S. military operation is aimed at increasing military pressure on China in response to the growing activities of China’s naval and air forces around Taiwan, the East China Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
The so-called “China-Japan East China Sea median line” refers to Japan’s unilateral request to adopt an equidistant median line between land to delineate the East China Sea continental shelf between China and Japan. The Chinese government does not recognize this.
U.S. ships and aircraft have frequently approached and provoked in China’s surrounding waters in recent years. Just on the 16th, the US “Politician” news network stated that a U.S. MC-130J transport aircraft had an “unsafe” interaction with PLA Su-30 fighter jets in the South China Sea.
Earlier this year, the commander of the U.S. Pacific Air Forces said that U.S. F-35 had a recent close encounter with the Chinese J-20 over the East China Sea, and that the J-20 performed quite professionally, with impressive command and control capabilities.