Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Relations between China and Canada are heating up. This is after Beijing accused Ottawa of carrying out “malicious and provocative” actions in the South China Sea (SCS).
The comments from China came after the Canadian Navy said Beijing’s fighter jets endangered a helicopter in two close-range interceptions over international waters. LCS itself is close to Indonesia, one of which is related to North Natuna.
According to Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair the incident occurred on Friday evening. He said the Chinese jet’s actions were considered “extremely unsafe” and put “the safety of all personnel involved at unnecessary risk”.
China also recognizes this. However, the country’s Ministry of Defense accused Canada of violating Chinese and international law, endangering China’s sovereignty and security and committing malicious and provocative actions with ulterior motives.
“F“The Canadian frigate HMCS Ottawa flew two attack helicopters with unknown intentions towards Chinese airspace around the Xisha Islands,” said Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Zhang Xiaogang, referring to a disputed archipelago claimed by China, Vietnam and Taiwan and also known as Paracel Islands.
“The Chinese People’s Liberation Army organized the navy and air force to carry out identification, verification in accordance with the law and issued numerous warnings. However, Canadian helicopters not only refused to respond, but also took provocative actions such as flying at very low altitudes,” Zhang said again.
“We urge the Canadian side not to ignore the facts, stop exaggerating and exaggerating (the incident), and strictly limit the actions of the front-line naval and air forces to prevent accidents at sea and in the air,” he added.
Report CNN International, last week also revealed a Chinese warplane fired flares in front of a Canadian military helicopter on October 29. Canadian military officers said the operation was reckless and could have resulted in the plane crashing.
The air officer aboard the Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Ottawa, Major Rob Millen, said the incident was the second of two “unsafe” encounters Canadian helicopters had that day with Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLA) J-11 fighters ). Both were 100 feet (30 meters) from the helicopter.
Millen said he was piloting the helicopter on October 29, when a Chinese J-11 intercepted it at close range, as it was flying straight and at an altitude of 3,000 feet above the water heading back towards Ottawa. He said he had to descend to 200 feet – an area where helicopters can operate but “very uncomfortable for fast air fighter jets” – to end the encounter with the Chinese jets.
Millen also said that Chinese fighter planes were flying in circles very close. So the helicopter experienced turbulence which could be dangerous.
For your information, China has so far claimed almost the entire SCS area, namely around 90% covering an area of around 1.3 million square miles, with the concept of a nine-dash line, which later changed to a 10-dash line. -separated. This claim includes most of the islands within it.
Based on this unilateral claim, the Bamboo Curtain Country has even established military posts on the artificial islands it built there. The SCS itself is crossed by important shipping lanes and contains gas fields and rich fishing grounds.
This unilateral territorial claim overlaps with the claims of several ASEAN countries and Taiwan. Apart from China, the LCS itself borders Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
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