A Chinese fighter jet performed an “unnecessarily aggressive manoeuvre” near a US military aircraft that was flying over the South China Sea last week, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
The US Indo-Pacific Command released video footage of the incident, which it said happened on Friday, as US defence secretary Lloyd Austin was on his way to the region for a visit with stops in Japan, Singapore and India.
It was the latest in a number of similar encounters and comes at a time of heightened tensions between Washington and Beijing. China’s military has repeatedly rebuffed US efforts to arrange a meeting between Austin and his Chinese counterpart, including one that could have taken place this week.