China fighter jet intercepts PH aircraft; warship tails 2 US Navy ships

August 14 ------ A Chinese fighter jet intercepted and conducted dangerous maneuvers against a Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) aircraft near Bajo de Masinloc on Wednesday morning. In a press briefing, PCG spokesperson for West Philippine Sea (WPS) Commodore Jay Tarriela said PCG's Caravan aircraft was conducting a maritime domain awareness (MDA) flight to check Chinese presence after Monday's incident in the area. "While we were also conducting an MDA flight, we experienced being intercepted by a Chinese J-15 fighter jet," Tarriela said. "Approximately, it came close as near as 500 feet. And for 20 minutes, it conducted dangerous maneuvers with such distance. And even above the aircraft of the Coast Guard aircraft at an approximate height of 200 feet,” he added.

PLAN vessel 553 issued a radio challenge to the PCG aircraft. Tarriela said the PCG aircraft also monitored four China Coast Guard (CCG) ships with bow numbers 5303, 4202, 3502, and 5306 near Bajo de Masinloc. Aside from these, Tarriela said two United States Navy ships were also spotted in the area around 30 nautical miles from Bajo de Masinloc or 102 nautical miles from Zambales.

According to Tarriela, PLAN vessel 568 was monitored tailing the two US naval ships. "At the same time, while they were also flying over the vicinity of Bajo de Masinloc, they monitored the presence of PLA Navy 568 tailing the two US naval vessels," Tarriela said. Reuters reported that China's military said Wednesday it monitored and "drove away" the American destroyer USS Higgins in the waters of the disputed Scarborough Shoal (Bajo de Masinloc) in the South China Sea. China's Southern Theater Command said the US ship had entered the waters "without the approval of the Chinese government."

Source: gmanetwork.com