China fighter jet flew within six metres of US surveillance plane

A Chinese fighter jet flew within six metres (20 feet) of a United States Air Force surveillance plane over the hotly contested South China Sea earlier this month, the US military said on Thursday.

On December 21, a Chinese J-11 fighter pilot performed an “unsafe” manoeuvre during an intercept of a US Air Force RC-135 aircraft, according to the US Indo-Pacific Command, which also released a video clip of the incident.