Chinese fighter jet came within three meters of U.S. spy plane

A Chinese fighter jet flew within three meters (10 feet) of a U.S. Air Force reconnaissance plane during an intercept last week over the South China Sea, forcing the U.S. plane to take evasive maneuvers to avoid a collision, the U.S military has revealed.

The revelation is the latest in what Washington has called a trend of increasingly dangerous behavior by the Chinese military in its encounters with the U.S. and its allies and partners in the region.

According to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, the latest incident, which took place on Dec. 21, involved a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy J-11 fighter pilot, which “performed an unsafe maneuver” during an intercept of a U.S. Air Force RC-135 aircraft that it said “was lawfully conducting routine operations over the South China Sea in international airspace.”