China has accused Canada of carrying out “malicious and provocative” actions in the South China Sea, after the Canadian Navy said Chinese fighter jets endangered a helicopter in two close intercepts above international waters.

The comments come after CNN revealed last week that a Chinese warplane fired flares in front of a Canadian military helicopter on October 29, an operation that Canadian military officers said was reckless and could have resulted in the downing of the aircraft.

The incident was the second of two “unsafe” encounters the Canadian chopper had on that day with Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Navy J-11 fighters, which got as close as 100 feet (30 meters) from the helicopter, Maj. Rob Millen, air officer aboard the Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Ottawa, told CNN in an interview on the warship.

  • lesseva96@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    It’s not “their playground”. Besides the fact that the South China Sea is a crucial international trade route (and thus shouldn’t “belong” to anyone), it is also bordered by many nations other than China, like Vietnam, Taiwan and the Philippines. And these nations are very bothered by the way China is using its size to bully them out of their own coastline. That is why Canada is there, to prevent China from dominating the smaller states. Obviously NATO has more than one goal in the region, but they are not uninvited guests and, in a world as globalized as ours, the South China Sea might as well be Canada’s playground.