The U.S. says a Chinese intercept could have led to an air collision

US Navy and allied maritime security concerns in the five years since the December 11, 2001, Pelosi trip to the Island: a warning for the United States

The US provocative and dangerous moves have caused maritime security issues. The Foreign Ministry urged the US to stop provocations and stop blaming China.

“The volume, the number of Chinese intercepts at sea and in the air have increased significantly over five years,” Milley said, though he offered no further details on the figure.

The tension around Taiwan has increased this year. A visit to the island by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in August prompted fury from the Communist Party and an immediate flurry of military exercises.

President Joe Biden has suggested the US military believes a potential trip by Pelosi and other lawmakers would pose security risks. The Pentagon has declined to say if officials have directly briefed the California Democrat, but officials say worries include China establishing a no-fly zone or increasing unsafe intercepts of US and allied ships and aircraft in the Pacific region.

Officials tell CNN the aim is to have a solid look at any changes in patterns of Chinese military activity. Interactions between the two militaries are so sensitive that incidents are often not made public. The Pentagon has yet to publicly acknowledge an incident where a US C-130 transport plane had an encounter with Chinese aircraft.

The Australian government claimed in February that a Chinese Navy ship used a laser to illuminate the Australian Air Force jet, which it termed a serious safety incident.

The Australian Defence Force strongly condemned the actions of the soldier, saying they have the potential to endanger lives. Pilots targeted by laser attacks in the past have reported disorienting flashes, pain, spasms and spots in their vision and even temporary blindness.

Taiwanese Defense Modernization Program In response to Taiwan’s Attacks on a Free, Open and Stable Indo-Pacific Sea

In his keynote speech, Austin said that countries in the area shouldn’t face political intimidation, economic pressure or harassment.

China believes that it has rightful security needs and that its national defense will contribute to the growth of the world’s peaceful forces. China will not seek a sphere of influence or threaten another country.

Over the past several years, the South China Sea has emerged as a major potential flashpoint in the Asia Pacific. Islands in it, like the Paracels near which the US Navy plane was intercepted Friday, are the subject of overlapping territorial claims in part from China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

The incursions were made by 42 J-10), J-11, J-16 and Su-30 fighter jets and two Y-8 maritime patrol aircrafts, as well as a CH4 and aWZ-7 military helicopter, according to the Taiwanese defense ministry.

The newest activities came as the Chinese military’s Eastern Theater Command said Sunday it conducted joint combat readiness patrol and “strike drills” around Taiwan, in response to “provocations” between Taiwan and the United States, without providing specific details.

Taiwan maintained control of the islands after the sides split in 1949 amid civil war and they are considered a first line of defense should China make good on its threats to bring Taiwan under its control by force if necessary.

The defense modernization program for Taiwan was included in the new defense bill signed on Friday by US President Joe Biden.

“The cooperation between Taiwan and the United States will help safeguard a free, open and stable Indo-Pacific region. The military will strengthen its military readiness in the face of enemy threats.

Though still describing them as “infrequent actions,” the US Navy reported an uptick in unsafe intercepts by Chinese fighter jets last summer; in December 2022, a Chinese fighter jet flew just 20 feet in front of the nose of a US Air Force RC-135 surveillance plane carrying 30 crew over international waters in the South China Sea, forcing it to swerve to avoid a collision. This was just five weeks after the meeting between President Biden and President Xi in Bali during a G20 Summit — a meeting in which they pledged new mechanisms to stabilize the bilateral relationship.

China has previously halted talks regarding climate cooperation because of Pelosis visit to Taiwan, but the talks are expected to resume now as part of a larger set of agreements between Biden and Xi.

The RC-135 Rivet Joint and a Japanese Navy Jet Accompany the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea on December 21

According to Japanese authorities, a series of military drills were conducted by China last Friday in the Pacific Ocean.

The Chinese navy’s Liaoning aircraft carrier, as well as two destroyers and a frigate, sailed about 560 kilometers (about 348 miles) east of Kitadaito Island, located off Okinawa’s east coast, on December 21, according to Japan’s Joint Staff. The vessels were able to sail east of Okinotorishima on December 22.

Then on Friday, around 180 carrier-based fighter jets and helicopters took off and landed on the Liaoning aircraft carrier, according to Japan’s defense ministry.

Japan’s Ministry of Defense and Self-Defense Forces responded by dispatching two escort ships to collect information and carry out warning and surveillance, the ministry said.

Beijing has been increasing its naval and air forces in areas near Japan. The Senkaku Islands are a chain of islands in the East China Sea.

Japan unveiled a long-awaited national security plan this month that signals the country’s largest military boost since World War II, as well as doubling defense spending and reverting from its pacifist constitution to deal with the growing threats of China, North Korea and Russia.

Performing what the US military deemed an “unsafe maneuver,” a Chinese navy J-11 fighter jet flew within 20 feet of the nose of a US RC-135 Rivet Joint, an unarmed reconnaissance plane with about 30 people on board, forcing the US plane to take “evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision,” according to a statement from the US Indo-Pacific Command issued on December 28.

The video shows that the J-11 flew off the nose of the RC-135. As the two aircraft draw closer, a defense official said it is “unlikely” the Chinese jet could have maintained a safe visual separation from the larger, heavier American aircraft, which was maintaining its course and speed. The RC-135 took evasive measures to avoid a crash with the Chinese jet.

The shoot down of the large, high-altitude balloon by the United States came after China said it was part of a “fleet” of Chinese military balloons. China said the balloon was a civilian airship that drifted astray by accident.

The US Department of Defense’s Indo-Pacific Joint Force is dedicated to a free and open part of the world and will continue its operations at sea and in international airspace with due consideration for the safety of ships and aircraft.

The U.S. and other countries accuse China of harassing military aircraft and ships in the East China Sea as far away as the Horn of Africa, where China operates a naval base.

The situation of a jet in China during its first airborne interception: a warning to the media and to the world’s defences

Editor’s Note: A version of this story appeared in CNN’s Meanwhile in China newsletter, a three-times-a-week update exploring what you need to know about the country’s rise and how it impacts the world. Sign up here.

The Chinese fighter jet was so close that the CNN crew could see the pilots turn their heads to look at them and see the red star on the tail fins.

“The 135 was in international airspace and is a large, slow, non-maneuverable aircraft. It is the responsibility of the approaching smaller, fast, maneuverable aircraft to stay clear, not to cause a problem for both aircraft,” said Peter Layton, a former Royal Australian Air Force officer, now with the Griffith Asia Institute.

“The intent of the interception was presumably to visually identify the aircraft and the fighter could have stayed several miles away and competed that task. He said getting closer didn’t bring any gains.

Layton pointed out another potential danger that could lead to escalation. The Chinese aircraft is armed with air-to-fly missiles, as seen in the US video.

The US military risked blowing out of proportion the incident if it said the US jet had to take evasive maneuvers, he said.

A driver is adjusting her position to avoid a lane incursion by another driver. “The US response is pure theater and needlessly creates an exaggerated sense of danger.”

According to Herzinger, the flying of aircraft at 500 miles per hour or more is generally unsafe.

The South China Sea: Where the United States Collises. An U.S. Attorney’s Note on a Russian-Embedded Naval Base in the Philippines

The PLA has ruined discussion forums and hotlines for addressing potential incidents with the United States. If an intercept goes wrong, there are almost no options left for senior officers to limit potential escalation.

But in a regular press briefing on Friday, a spokesperson for the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the incident was just the latest in a string of US provocations that threaten stability in the region.

The largest of which are home to Chinese military bases are the Paracel Islands, which are 30 miles away from the South China Sea and are also a group of small atolls.

In the most infamous incident in 2001, a Chinese fighter jet collided with a US reconnaissance plane near Hainan Island in the northern South China Sea, leading to a major crisis as the Chinese pilot was killed and the damaged US plane barely managed a safe landing on Chinese territory. The US crew was freed after 11 days of intense negotiations.

Editor’s Note: Beth Sanner is a former deputy director of National Intelligence for Mission Integration, a position where she oversaw the elements that coordinate and lead collection, analysis, and program oversight throughout the Intelligence Community. In this role she also served as the president’s intelligence briefer. She is a professor-of-practice at the Applied Research Lab for Intelligence and Security at the University of Maryland and a CNN national security analyst. The opinions expressed in this commentary are her own. View more opinion on CNN.

On Monday, Beijing accused Washington of “illegally” flying high-altitude balloons over its airspace more than 10 times since last year, calling the US the “world’s largest surveillance empire.”

In late 2016, the Chinese seized an unmanned US Navy underwater vehicle in international waters in the South China Sea, just 50 nautical miles from Subic Bay in the Philippines, and hundreds of miles from China. (Subic Bay was home to the largest US naval base in Asia until disagreements over leasing costs led to a withdrawal in 1992; ironically, US sailors might soon return to the base following Manila’s recent decision to allow a greater, albeit rotational, US military presence in the Philippines as a counter to Chinese aggression.) It was believed that the incident was a message to the President-elect two weeks before his inauguration and several weeks after he angered Beijing by taking a call from Taiwan’s president. Beijing agreed to return the craft three days later, but never apologized and accused the US of spying.

Had any damage or loss of life resulted when China downed the unmanned US craft, Chinese authorities would have quickly placed both blame and liability on the US. There would have been protests in front of the US Embassy and China’s Ambassador to the US.

My first thought when I saw the Chinese balloon floating over Montana was probably the same as yours: shoot it down. But in my decades as a senior intelligence official, my role in such circumstances was to focus on the facts, not the outrage, highlighting the intelligence community’s knowledge — and the gaps in our understanding — and providing a measured, clear-headed assessment. In meetings probably held in the White House Situation Room multiple times over the past week, a senior intelligence official would have joined the US military, level-setting the discussion in this vein. The decision was made to shoot the balloon down until it was flying over shallow US waters where there was minimal chance of a large debris field.

I can hear the war drums beating and I am waiting for the hyperbole to reach new heights as we move closer to the 2020 election: who will be the toughest on China? But let’s not let China-bashing become a new brand of McCarthyism, particularly when considering the already-dangerous rise in anti-Asian rhetoric and violence reported in the US in recent years.

Instead, we can come up with a more strategic, measured plan to hold China accountable and allow room for needed dialogue. It will be hard to avoid a military conflict with China if we follow Beijing’s lead.

Flight of an Unidentified Object Flying Above the U.S. and Canada: An Airborne Investigation of a High-Altitude Object

The commander-in-chief gave theUS military approval to shoot down the high-altitude object, US national security officials said hours after the shoot down.

Since Friday, U.S. forces have brought down three unidentified objects flying above the U.S. and Canada. American officials have not disclosed what kind of objects were sent to them.

It is possible that the increase in objects that we detected over the past week may be the result of the People’s Republic of China balloon that we took down last Saturday.

American defense officials have said the objects were not a military threat, but could pose a safety hazard to aviation due to their high altitude.

There were two efforts to get closer to the object and evaluate it as it flew. The first engagement by fighter aircraft took place late Thursday night and the second Friday morning. Both engagements yielded “limited” information, Kirby told reporters.

We were able to get some fighter aircrafts up and around it before we were able to shoot it down, because the pilots thought it was not manned.

The military was directed to down an object by Biden at the recommendation of the Pentagon. The object came inside territorial airspace and was brought down by fighter aircraft assigned to US Northern Command. It went down over the frozen waters near the Canadian border. The US expects to recover the debris.

US Northern Command’s Alaska Command coordinated the operation with assistance from the Alaska Air National Guard, Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Ryder said.

The Defense Department explains the shooting of a suspected Chinese spy balloon off the coast of the Alaskan Deadhorse, Alaska, last night

“We’re calling this an object because that’s the best description we have right now. We don’t know who owns it – whether it’s state-owned or corporate-owned or privately-owned, we just don’t know,” Kirby said.

The object was looked at last night by the US government. Biden was first briefed Thursday night “as soon as the Pentagon had enough information,” Kirby said.

The object wasn’t able to maneuver itself and it was at the mercy of the winds making it less predictable, said Kirby.

The Federal Aviation Administration issued a temporary flight restriction Friday in the area around Deadhorse, Alaska, as the military took action against the object.

The Biden administration faced questions over how it handled a suspected Chinese spy balloon that was shot down off the coast of the Carolinas.

While the president has stood by how he and his administration handled that balloon, he has faced criticism from Republicans for allowing the suspected spy balloon to float over much of the country before shooting it down.

Thompson, a former US Defense Department official, said the US military does use balloons, both tethered and high-altitude, for surveillance, but they are “very careful” to make sure they do not go into other countries’ airspace unless it’s a cooperative operation.

The assessment was communicated to American lawmakers in briefings Thursday, according to CNN reporting – and if true, could point to what analysts say would be a significant lack of coordination within the Chinese system at a fraught period of China-US relations.

It is possible that the consequences of the mission are not as serious as the advisers believed, or that the visit by Blinken would have been jeopardized by the repercussions of the mission.

China has only offered a slim version of events, denying a broader program and maintaining that the balloon was a Chinese civilian research vehicle blown off course.

The device was linked to companies rather than the government or military in Beijing’s statement, despite the fact that stateowned enterprises and a robust military-industrial complex make up the line between the two.

The lack of authority at lower levels is a problem with centralization, according to Thompson, who is a senior research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy.

Lower-level officials who have the ability to more closely monitor such missions may not be given the power to make political judgments about their impact, he said. Communication could be complicated by power struggles between lower and higher ranking officials.

There is a tension throughout the Chinese system, where the lower levels fight for their own independence, and the upper levels fight for more control, he said.

In past crises in China there have been tensions such as the outbreak of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in 2002-2003 and more recently Covid-19 which was seen as having slowed the response and compounded the problem. Some blamed local officials who feared repercussions, or were accustomed to a system where information flows from the top down, not the bottom up.

Balloon launches could also fall into a gap in which operations were not managed or overseen in the same way as space or other aircraft missions, according to Dali Yang, a political scientist at the University of Chicago.

In this case, entities launching balloons may have received “little or no push back from other countries, including the United States” and “increasingly seen such launches as routine based on weather conditions and at modest costs,” Yang said.

“As a result, while the leaders of these programs have also become emboldened over time to test new routes, it was likely that they didn’t get top priority attention from the perspective of political risk,” he said.

Detection of a flying object near a fishing vessel in the Indonesian island of Qingdao: A message to the Chinese maritime authorities and state media after the G20 summit

“Because of his personality, he wants 100% (control),” said Alfred Wu, an associate professor, also at the NUS Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. “I don’t think Xi Jinping allows for that kind of autonomy.”

Instead, Xi may have been comfortable with an incident that diverted the attention of a public frustrated amid a faltering economy after years under the recently dismantled zero-Covid policy – but underestimated the US domestic response that resulted in the postponed talks, Wu said.

It is possible that Washington wanted to stop the dialogue going on during the meeting between China and the US at the G20 summit in the Indonesian island of Kavaruka, as it was not knowing about the situation.

The paper reported that maritime authorities in the province ofShandong spotted a flying object in the water and were planning to shoot it down.

In a text message to fishing vessels, maritime authorities in the neighboring port city of Qingdao told crews to be on alert to avoid danger and assist with debris recovery efforts if possible.

“If debris falls near your boat, please help take photos to collect evidence. In a message, the Jimo district marine development department asked for help in saving it if conditions allow.

As of Monday afternoon local time, Chinese authorities and state media had not provided any update, and it is unclear if the object has already been taken down.

Following the fallout, the US Commerce Department has restricted six Chinese companies tied to the Chinese military’s aerospace programs from obtaining US technology without government authorization.

By Monday morning, the unidentified object had become the top trending topic on Weibo, with two related hashtags racking up more than 900 million views. There were many who wondered why there had not been an update on the shoot down.

The first time the Philippine coast guard blocked a patrol vessel in the disputed waters: China’s aggression and diplomatic relations in the South China Sea

Although the Chinese coast guard had tried to block Philippine coast guard ships in the disputed waters before, this was the first time it used lasers and caused physical suffering among Filipino personnel, Philippine coast guard spokesperson Commodore Armand Balilo told The Associated Press.

The Philippine coast Guard said in a statement that the Chinese ship maneuvered to block the Philippine patrol vessel BRP Malapascua from approaching the Second Thomas Shoal, which has been occupied by Philippine forces.

The Chinese ship’s green laser light caused momentary blind spots in the crew of the BRP Malapascua.

The Philippine vessel was forced to move away from the area, where it was escorting a supply vessel that had been marooned for over a decade, in order to pick up food and sailors from the BRP Sierra Madre.

The coast guard said it wouldn’t be deterred by China’s aggression in protecting Philippine sovereignty, as one of the two Chinese ships removed the cover on its 70mm weapon.

There are competing claims in the busy waterway, where a bulk of the world’s commerce and oil transits take place.

There was a joint Navy and Marine Corps activity in the South China Sea at a time of heightened tensions with Beijing over a suspected Chinese spy balloon. The U.S. has been taking steps to rebuild its military might in the Philippines more than 30 years after the closure of its large bases in the country and reinforcing an arc of military alliances in Asia.

“‘everybody spies’ is a poorly considered trope that does not justify China’s incursion in other countries’ airspace” The Law of the Sea and international law are things that countries conduct in the same way.

China’s increasing hardline stance has exposed the inconsistencies and inherent contradictions in Beijing’s messaging, which has severely damaging its credibility.

Collin Koh, a research fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, described China’s claims as “a sort of one-upmanship tit-for-tat against Washington’s accusations.”

“It appears more like Beijing is trying to also portray itself as a victim of US surveillance, instead of being painted over the past week as an aggressor,” he said.

Drew Thompson, a senior research fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, called China’s latest tactic a large case of what-aboutism.

“And it’s been quite contradictory. It lacks credibility with other countries because it is mostly directed towards the domestic audience.

Taiwan’s Supremacy of Airspace. A Professor of International Law and the Observation of a Chinese Air Balloon in Taiyuan

A country’s sovereign airspace is the portion of the atmosphere that sits above its territory, including its territorial waters that extend 12 nautical miles from its land. The international airspace above the ocean is considered to be an international airspace and can be used for military and commercial flights, according to a professor of international law.

“In the past and till recently, the Chinese military had challenged foreign military aerial activities in the international airspace in such manner as though it’s national airspace,” he said, citing the 2001 collision between a US Navy spy plane with a Chinese fighter jet over the South China Sea as an example.

He said that in recent years the Chinese military had challenged foreign military activities in the South China Sea, including those run by the Filipinos.

China has also undertaken significant land reclamation and built at least seven artificial islands in the South China Sea. According to international law, airspace sovereignty is not given by an artificial island.

It extends to the maximum height at which commercial and military aircraft operate. Concorde, a retired Franco-British supersonic airliner, operated at 60,000 feet (18,300 meters), setting a precedent for how high national airspace may extend to, he said.

US officials say that the Chinese balloon was in US airspace when it was spotted in Montana. China did not clarify at what altitudes the alleged incursions of US balloons occurred.

The ministry’s statement on Thursday said the balloon carried equipment registered to a state-owned electronics company in the northern city of Taiyuan.

Reached by phone, a publicity officer at the company, identified in the report as Taiyuan Wireless (Radio) First Factory Ltd., said it had provided electronics but had not built the balloon.

The company that provided equipment to the China Meteorological Administration is called Taiyuan, according to the spokesman.

He said that the balloon was likely launched from the coastal city of Xiamen and that it was likely to have no fixed course.

Its deflation was likely a natural outcome of it having reached maximum altitude of around 30,000 meters (almost 100,000 feet), Liu said. He said that the balloons fly over the Taiwan Strait but have recently begun to draw attention.

The Paracel Islands: A strategic sea bordering the South China Sea and the home of the PT-based Chinese Embassy and the Embassy of the United States

Information on the equipment was written in the simplified Chinese characters used on the mainland rather than the traditional on Taiwan, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said.

Despite a lack of formal relations, Washington is Taiwan’s closest military and diplomatic ally. Beijing protests strongly over all contacts between the island and the U.S., but its aggressive diplomacy has helped build strong bipartisan support for Taipei on Capitol Hill.

On Thursday, President Joe Biden said the U.S. is developing “sharper rules” to track, monitor and potentially shoot down unknown aerial objects, following three weeks of high-stakes drama sparked by the discovery of a suspected Chinese spy balloon transiting much of the country.

Biden directed Sullivan to lead the review of U.S. procedures after shooting down the Chinese balloon and three other objects.

A CNN crew was given rare access aboard the US flight and heard a voice that was saying it was coming from aPLA airport.

Not only does the strategic waterway hold vast resources of fish, oil and gas, but about a third of global shipping passes through it – worth about $3.4 trillion in 2016, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ (CSIS) China Power Project.

The Paracel Islands are located in the northern part of the South China Sea, and are south of China’s Hainan Island.

Named by 16th century Portuguese mapmakers, they have no indigenous population to speak of, only Chinese military garrisons amounting to 1,400 people, according to the CIA Factbook.

In 2016, in a case brought by the Philippines, an international tribunal in the Hague ruled that China’s claim to historic rights to the bulk of the sea had no legal basis.

More warnings about the US Navy’s ultra-high-seafly over intl-hnk-ml

More warnings were brought about by the PLA on Friday when the US Navy P-8 flew close to the Philippines and spotted a Navy destroyer in the sky.

There are US aircraft. US aircraft. The Chinese naval vessel is called 173. You are approaching to me at low altitude. A voice comes on the US plane’s radio.

The US Navy said the US cruiser conducted the operation “in accordance with international law and then continued on to conduct normal operations in waters where high seas freedoms apply.”

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/24/asia/us-navy-south-china-sea-flyover-intl-hnk-ml/index.html

What Do I Need to Learn from the Quark-Gluon Plasma? “I Need to Understand What I Mean,” [Lambda C. Phys. Rev. D 26 (1970) 846-847]

“Whenever there’s no response, it leaves questions. Do they understand what were saying? Do they understand our intentions? Do they understand that they do not mean any harm? He speaks.