The Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) P-8A Poseidon was conducting routine surveillance in the international airspace over the South China Sea on May 26 when the J-16 jet flew “very close”. he fired flares and dropped straw in his path, the Department of Defense said.
Defense Minister Richard Marles said yesterday that the federal government had expressed concern about the “very dangerous” interception with the Chinese government.
A P-8 Poseidon aircraft of the Royal Australian Air Force was intercepted by a Chinese fighter jet, according to the Department of Defense. (Department of Defense)
“We have to step back into incidents like this … we just can’t afford to risk climbing,” Sam Roggeveen, director of the International Security Program’s Lowy Institute think tank, told 9News.
He said the interceptions of foreign military aircraft were used by China to bolster its claims to sovereignty over the South China Sea.
But the incident was significant after reports of a similar episode in which a Chinese fighter flew very close and fast from a Canadian reconnaissance aircraft on a UN mission in East Asia.
“With medium powers like Canada, Australia and New Zealand, China knows it is dealing with the ‘fish’.”
In comparison, the Chinese are generally more cautious about intercepting U.S. reconnaissance aircraft because the U.S. military had a much greater capacity for retaliation.
Australian has also rejected requests from the United States to join Naval Freedom Navigation patrols through disputed parts of the South China Sea because federal governments on both sides realize they should retreat in any confrontation with Chinese naval ships or coastguards.
The controversial waters of the South China Sea. (CNN / Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative) (provided)
Roggeveen said the reasons for the Chinese interception of the RAAF plane would be better understood if the Department of Defense released the exact location and images taken by the Poseidon crew.
“We need this kind of information to better understand the incident … it could have been due to a poorly trained (Chinese) pilot.”
The vast South China Sea has become a major dispute between China and other countries, including Australia.
Tensions over disputed waters have risen since 2014, as China has turned sandbanks into islands, equipping them with airfields, ports and weapons systems, and warned Western warships and aircraft. that they would move away from them.
Marles said the Chinese plane had flown near the RAAF plane before releasing “small pieces of aluminum,” or straw, into the air.
When ingested, straw can damage the blades of a jet engine and, in extreme cases, can even shut it down, said Peter Layton, a former Royal Australian Air Force officer who is now a member of the Griffith Asia Institute in New South Wales.
Since 2014, China has militarized the South China Sea to promote its claims to sovereignty over the Great Waterway. (AP)
While the Poseidon P-8 can only run on one of its two engines, the alleged incident would have forced it to return to base, effectively ending its patrol, Layton said.
There have been other close encounters between Chinese and foreign warplanes over the years.
The worst of them occurred in 2001, when a Chinese fighter jet collided with a U.S. Navy reconnaissance aircraft over the South China Sea.
In this case, the pilot of the Chinese F-8 fighter jet died and the American plane had to make an emergency landing on the island of Hainan in China. The 24 U.S. crew members were detained on the Chinese island for 11 days prior to their release.
Why the South China Sea dispute is important