South China Sea Hostility

"They became very aggressive and to a degree we would deem it unsafe and unprofessional."

"[Canada didn't want to have] anything untoward happen that would result in loss of life." 

"It’s a ramp-up of the aggressiveness that’s really unexpected and unnecessary in the context of the mission that we’re flying."

"The first flare incident, the fighter released two flares off our wing. So, that’s not particularly concerning because the fighter was stable, it moved away from us. […] But then the pilots reported it fired flares thereafter from near the front of the plane so that’s much more concerning. In terms of escalation that’s a very unsafe act."

"We’re here enforcing a United Nations resolution. We are not here acting against the Chinese. We don’t want to have anything untoward happen that would result in loss of life."

Maj.-Gen. Iain Huddleston, Canadian Air Force

"Canadian airships have made trouble at the doorstep of China."

"[In recent years Canadian planes have conducted reconnaissance] against China."

"Canada should respect facts and stop spreading false information."

"China is firmly opposed to any country jeopardizing our national sovereignty and security in the name of implementing resolutions. China urges Canada to see the gravity of the incident and refrain from taking any adventurist or provocative moves."

Mao Ning, spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry

A Chinese fighter jet flies next to a Canadian CP-140 Aurora over the East China Sea on Monday, Oct. 16, 2023. (Radio-Canada)

 

An incident occurred off the coast of China on Monday when a fighter jet cut off a patrol plane, dropping flares in its path. Reported by Global News in Canada, whose journalists just happened to be on the Canadian surveillance aircraft at the time. The journalists reported that Chinese fighters flew within five metres of the plane.

As a result of the encounter, Beijing filed a diplomatic complaint with Ottawa. And while the Chinese foreign ministry addressed itself to the incident in the South China Sea, its defence ministry ignored a request for elucidation. What is clear and has been for quite some time is China's anger with military flights from Western nations off its shores.

The Canadian patrol plane was flying in international airspace, despite China claiming the entire South China Sea as its own exclusively; inclusive of both water and airspace. Both are recognized as international while areas closer to China's coastline are seen as China's. The Pentagon reported in May that a Chinese fighter jet swerved in front of an American reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea, behaving in an "unnecessarily aggressive manoeuvre".

 

Chinese fighters reportedly buzzed Canadian planes in the region last year -- releasing small bits of aluminum before Australian aircraft on another occasion. Mid-air confrontations of this calibre have the potential to escalate, a concern of the West, but possibly not China, since its hostility is based in part on the fact that it believes and has made claims to that effect, that all of the South China Sea is its territory.

An American navy surveillance plant collided in 2001 with a Chinese fighter jet. The navy's EP-3 landed on the southern Chinese island of Hainan, where a ten-day standoff took place until finally the 24 American crew members were released.The Chinese jet had crashed, its pilot permanently missing; no trace of him was ever found.

The thirteen-member crew of the plane involved in this latest incident was engaged at enforcing sanctions against North Korea, as part of a UN mission to encourage the nation to end its nuclear-weapons program. These ongoing missions under the sponsorship of the United Nations include Japan, France and the United States, for the purpose of identifying "evasion activities, in particular ship-to-ship transfers of fuel and other commodities".

A close-up view of the cockpit of a Chinese fighter jet flying close to a CP-140 Aurora over the East China Sea on Monday, Oct. 16, 2023. (Radio-Canada)