Canada Slams China Over Second ‘Unsafe’ Aircraft Intercept in Two Weeks

Voice of America News reports: “Canadian Defense Minister Bill Blair on Friday slammed Chinese fighter jets’ second ‘significantly unsafe’ intercept in two weeks of Canadian aircraft patrolling the Pacific.

Blair said at a news conference that a Chinese fighter jet on October 29 twice flew close to a Canadian Cyclone helicopter near the Paracel Islands, in the South China Sea, and on the second flyby fired flares ‘directly in front’ of the helicopter.

There was ‘little separation’ between the fighter jet and the helicopter, he said.

‘The actions of the People’s Republic of China fighter jet were deemed to be significantly unsafe, and we’ll express our concerns to the People’s Republic of China about that.’

The helicopter and HMCS Ottawa were in the South China Sea as part of U.S. and allied ‘freedom of navigation’ crossings to reinforce the status of the body as an international waterway.

Beijing claims almost the entire South China Sea, through which trillions of dollars in trade passes annually, and has ignored an international court ruling that its assertion has no legal basis…”

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