By HONG KONG — The United States condemned Wednesday what it called “dangerous maneuvers” by China after a Chinese navy helicopter flew within 10 feet of a Philippine patrol plane in a disputed area of the South China Sea.
The incident took place Tuesday morning local time as a plane belonging to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources was flying what Philippine officials said was a routine low-altitude patrol over the Scarborough Shoal, an atoll that is mostly underwater but is rich in fish stocks.
Video shared by the Philippine coast guard showed the Chinese People’s Liberation Army navy helicopter hovering above and to the left of the Philippine plane before moving away again in an effort to push the plane out of what Beijing says is its airspace.
“We condemn the dangerous maneuvers by a PLA Navy helicopter that endangered pilots and passengers on a Philippine air mission,” U.S. Ambassador to the Philippines MaryKay L. Carson said in a post on the social media platform X. “We call on China to refrain from coercive actions and settle its disputes peacefully in accordance with international law.”
