China accuses US of interfering in training exercise before aerial confrontation

BEIJING (AP) — China’s Defense Ministry has accused the U.S. of “interference and surveillance” of a naval exercise in the South China Sea ahead of an incident in which a Chinese fighter pilot flew at high speed in front of an Air Force reconnaissance plane, underscoring the rupture in contacts between their militaries. A statement Wednesday from the military’s Southern Theater Command said it had “organized air forces to track and monitor the whole process, dealt with it according to laws and regulations, and operated professionally.” The U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said the pilot of a Chinese J-16 fighter had “performed an unnecessarily aggressive maneuver” while intercepting a U.S. Air Force RC-135 aircraft on May 26, flying directly in front of the plane’s nose.